


There Wolf, Werewolf

by Bear_shark



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alpha Clint Barton, Alpha Sam Wilson, Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Anal Sex, Attempted Kidnapping, Awkward Flirting, Canon-Typical Violence, Clint is still hawkeye, Come Marking, Cuddling & Snuggling, Hand Jobs, Hurt/Comfort, Laser Tag, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Meet-Cute, Mockeye, Modern Bucky Barnes, Nesting, Omega Bucky Barnes, Omega Natasha Romanov, Omegas are BADASS, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Racism, SO MUCH SILLINESS, Scenting, Soulmates, Switch Bucky Barnes, Switch Clint Barton, Trampolines, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:07:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 39,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23331385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bear_shark/pseuds/Bear_shark
Summary: “Who’s the omega?” Clint asked.Sarah and Sam turned to look at him with a mix of surprise and consternation.“What?” Clint said, glancing between them. “Oh. Are we not supposed to say designations anymore? Who’s the hot guy? Is that better?”Or: Tensions between wolves and humans are at an all-time high, but Clint just wants to get his trampoline on.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton, Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson
Comments: 85
Kudos: 362





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [roe87](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roe87/gifts).



> Happy belated birthday to Ro! Thank you for being an incredible friend. As you know, this was supposed to be for your birthday last year, but then life happened. :) I hope you enjoy it. 
> 
> Also, turns out that Sam has a sister named Sarah. Who knew? Hope that's not too confusing for folks. 
> 
> Thank you to LilyintheSnow for the beta assist and the kat-atomic for letting me bounce ideas off you!
> 
> Story updates Thursdays and Mondays.

This party was going to be fun; Clint knew it. He would get his trampoline on, play with some adorable werewolf pups, and eat pizza until his stomach pooched out and he couldn’t jump anymore. 

He met Sam and his husband Steve outside the trampoline park. It was a giant grey building with a blinking neon yellow sign advertising “Family fun!” and “Jump for joy!” 

“Please tell me that’s not what you’re wearing to my niece’s birthday party,” Sam said as he eyed Clint’s stained Ironman t-shirt and baggy sweatpants. 

Clint stretched side to side in big, exaggerated movements. Being 6’4 had some advantages. “It’s a trampoline park. I need to be able to move.” 

Sam sighed. “I can’t believe I have to say this, but you have to share the trampolines with the kids. No hogging.” 

“Are you kidding?” Clint said. “I’m great with pups! And I’ve been spending too much time with humans, so I’m ready to get my wolf on.” 

Sam’s breathed in through narrowed nostrils, and Clint hated that he had brought up a sensitive subject. As Captain America and the public face of the Avengers, the conflict between humans and werewolves wore heavily on Sam. 

Things hadn’t always been this bad. Before becoming Captain America, Sam had done pararescue with an integrated human and werewolf unit. But years of propaganda by an organization named Hydra about the dangers of werewolves had caused a strain between humans and wolves. There were protests about keeping wolves out of positions of leadership and occasional bouts of violence. The packs were closing their ranks for safety. Now, the only humans Clint interacted with were Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey. 

“Let’s have fun, babe,” Steve whispered, kissing his husband’s shoulder. Clint thought the two alphas were cute together, one big and one pocket-sized, although he would never say it to their faces for fear Steve would kick his teeth in. 

Sam reached for Steve’s hand and squeezed it. “You’re right. It’s been a long week, but this’ll be nice to relax.” 

Clint didn’t think there would be anything relaxing about hanging out with twelve five-year-old pups in a trampoline park, but he wasn’t one to quibble. Inside, the park had trampolines stretched from one wall to the other with blue padded mats in between. There was a trampoline basketball court, trampoline dodgeball, and a giant foam pit. The room smelled like sweat, day-old pizza, and spilled soda. So, basically, Clint’s apartment. He felt right at home. 

“Uncle Sam!” a pup cried out. She ran across the trampolines, chubby little legs bouncing as she went. A gaggle of children followed her. 

Sam swept her up into his arms and twirled her around. “Hey Leticia! Happy birthday!” 

Leticia squealed in happiness and patted Sam’s face. She held up five fingers. “I’m this many now.” 

“I can’t count, you’ll have to tell me,” Sam said. 

“Five!” 

“Whoa!” Sam kissed her cheek, and she scrunched up her face and put a hand over his mouth. 

“Ew.” 

Sam winced, and his smile became strained. “Sorry, baby girl. I forgot you don’t like that,” he whispered. He addressed the pups. “Hi kids, my name is Sam. I’m Leticia’s uncle.” 

“You’re Captain America!” one of the little girls cheered. As the first werewolf Captain America, Sam was a hero to his community. The humans hadn’t been pleased, especially since Sam was black in his human form and married to a male, white werewolf; it ticked off so many of their intolerance boxes. Clint thought they could suck it. Humans had everything else; the werewolves needed their own hero. 

“I am,” Sam said with a grin. “This is my mate Steve, and my friend Clint.” The kids called back their hellos, but Leticia buried her face in Sam’s neck, shy now that she was talking to a strange adult. 

“You’re Hawkeye!” the same little girl called out. Clint gave the girl an exaggerated high five. “Mr. Hawkeye, why are you wearing pajamas?” 

Sam didn’t bother to cover his laugh. Whatever, Cap was a hero but he could be an asshole, too. “I told you, man.” 

Clint ignored Sam and crouched down next to the little girl. “What’s your name?” 

“Annie,” the girl said. She was all bright confidence with a poof of curly hair. 

“Cool name,” Clint said. “Annie, did you know I used to be in the circus?” Annie’s eyes went wide, and she shook her head. “I can show you guys some cool tricks. Would you like that?” 

“Yes!” she said. 

“Will you tell Captain America that he was wrong, and I was right?” 

Annie looked between the two men, her little brow furrowed in thought. “He’s Captain America,” she said decisively, as though that was enough to put an end to it. Sam grinned triumphantly. 

A giggle carried across the room. Clint followed the sound and saw a little boy playing with a man on the trampolines. The man timed his jumps just right to bounce the pup high into the air. 

The man was petite, likely an omega, and even from a distance, Clint could tell he was beautiful. He had long, dark hair, pouty lips, and a lithe body. But it was his smile that drew Clint in, the way he radiated joy and cheered on the kid he was playing with. 

“I wanna go next!” Leticia said. She wiggled in Sam’s hold, and as soon as he set her down she ran across the room with her friends following. Clint wanted to join them, start playing, and chat up the hot guy, but he knew it would be a party foul to ditch Sam and Steve so soon. 

“I forgot to tell you,” Sam said to Clint, “Leticia has sensory processing disorder. So, sometimes she gets overwhelmed or certain sensations are too much.” He pointed at the omega on the trampolines. “Her aide has been working with her to manage that and make her needs known. I, uh...” He cleared his throat. “Mess up sometimes.” 

“You don’t gotta be perfect,” Steve said, bumping their shoulders together companionably. “That’s why you have me.” 

The corner of Sam’s lips quirked up. “My perfect, asthmatic husband who picks a fight with every asshole he meets.” 

Steve grinned back at him, and Clint felt a brief pang of jealousy. He wanted what they had. More than that, Sam and Steve seemed to have their shit together. They did meaningful work, loved one another, and made a difference in the world. Granted, they were both reckless and hard-headed, but they helped people. Clint knew he helped people, too, but Sam cast one hell of a shadow. 

He couldn’t entertain that line of reasoning too long. “Leticia seems like a great kid,” he said. 

“Hell yeah, she is,” Sam said. “Let’s go track down my sister.” 

Most of the adults had congregated by the picnic tables. Brightly colored gifts were stacked in the corner with several in red, white and blue Captain America wrapping paper. On a central table, a giant cake read “Happy Birthday, Leticia!” This celebration wasn’t a tradition Clint had grown up with, but the birthday cake made werewolves adopting a few customs from the humans worth it. 

“Sam Wilson, as I live and breathe,” a woman called out. She had beautiful black hair with yellow beads braided in. “Fancy seeing you here.” 

Sam laughed ruefully. “It’s not been that long, sis.” 

The woman pulled Sam into a quick hug. “You got mated to this tiny white boy without telling the family first, I reserve the right to be dramatic any time I see you.” 

Steve blushed a bright pink color, splotchy on his cheeks. “Hi, Sarah. Uh, nice to see you.” 

Clint bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. Stubborn, brash Steve Rogers reduced to sputtering awkwardness by a little familial disapproval. Sucks for him, no one ever approved of Clint, and he did not give a shit. But he didn’t have time to tease, he had other priorities.

“Who’s the omega?” Clint asked. 

Sarah and Sam turned to look at him with a mix of surprise and consternation. 

“What?” Clint said, glancing between them. “Oh. Are we not supposed to say designations anymore? Who’s the hot guy? Is that better?” 

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “First, Clint this is my sister, Sarah. Sarah, this is Clint. Secondly—” 

Sarah stepped right up to Clint and pointed a finger in his face. She was a beta, he realized, and as intimidating as Fury. Clint felt the urge to duck his head in submission. “You are not allowed to date him. He’s Leticia’s behavioral aide, a godsend, and I’ll not have the only omega here hounded by you knot-heads.” 

“Hey!” Sam said. “I wasn’t planning on doing anything.” He pointed at the teeth marks on his neck. “Mated, remember?” Steve nodded his head while his blush darkened. 

Sarah huffed and stepped away from Clint to glare at Sam. Clint took a deep breath, grateful to not be the subject of scrutiny any longer. 

“Just because I’m a mom doesn’t mean I’m not hip. I know about triads. You could—” 

“We’re happy the way we are,” Steve said earnestly. “I promise.” He glanced at Sam. “I mean, unless you—” 

“No!” Sam and Sarah said at the same time. Steve’s shoulders inched up close to his ears. 

“I know,” he squeaked. “I just didn’t want to speak for you.” Steve looked at Clint in a panic, and he knew he was about to be thrown under the bus. “Clint brought him up!” 

Sarah and Sam focused their attention on Clint, and suddenly he understood why Steve was sweating it. They were an intimidating pair when they were angry. Maybe Sarah could fill in for Sam as Captain America sometime. “Alright, I’ll try not to hit on him! Now everybody relax before Steve passes out.” 

Steve scowled at him, but honestly, Clint couldn’t be bothered. “You co-lead the Avengers. Toughen up, dude.” 

——

After the conversation with Sarah, Sam and Steve appointed themselves Clint’s chaperones, and it seriously cramped his style. No way pups would goof off with him when Captain Serious and his “I don’t know what to do with kids” husband were around. Clint had to ditch them and fast. 

“Let’s go to the foam pit,” Clint said. “It’s really fun.” 

Sam looked skeptical, but once Clint started walking away, he and Steve followed. 

The foam pit had large square chunks of foam next to a trampoline. A few kids had already discovered it and were happily jumping into the air and landing in the cushy foam. They crawled out easily and ran around for another try. 

“No cutting,” Sam said when Clint hopped up into line. God, when did he stop being fun? Was it when he got the Captain America mantle? 

“I wasn’t going to,” Clint said primly. “In fact, you guys can go ahead of me.” 

Sam and Steve shared one of their looks, but Clint pasted his most innocent looking face on and gestured for them to go ahead. He decided not to tell them that the foam was only thick enough to hold up kids. 

When it was his turn, Sam took an experimental jump on the trampoline and then launched himself into the foam with Steve following him close behind. Sam tried to crawl to the side, but he kept sinking deeper because the foam couldn’t support his weight. “I can’t get out,” he said. 

“Oh,” Clint said, “keep trying. Maybe I’ll do something else.” 

“Barton,” Sam growled. 

“You two look cozy down there. Have fun!” Clint hurried off leaving a sputtering Captain America in his wake. 

\---

Chaperone free, Clint went off in search of fun. First stop, introduce himself to the beautiful omega. It was only polite. Kids surrounded Bucky , and they all seemed to be playing the same game. 

“What are the rules?” Clint whispered to one kid. 

“Shhhh,” she said. “It’s the quiet bouncing game.” 

Bucky looked at him expectantly and put a finger to his lips. Clint smirked but nodded. He joined the pups and made little bounces with them as they all tried to be quiet and play. Clint wasn’t entirely sure what the point was. 

“Okay, now we’ll do moon jumps,” Bucky whispered. “Jump slowly and pretend like you’re walking on the moon.” 

The kids clearly already knew Bucky and adored him, because they went along with his instruction immediately. The bounced slowly from one leg to the other like there was less gravity on the trampolines. Clint made his steps big and outlandish, at one point falling dramatically on the trampoline, and the kids had to cover their mouths to keep from giggling. 

Bucky whispered, “One-two-three: free jump!” The kids cheered and began jumping normally the air and chattering. Clint joined in and did a flip to the delight of all the kids. 

“Can you do two flips?” Annie said. 

Clint pretended to be thinking hard, and then said, “I don’t know, but I can try.” Jokes on them, he could do three flips with a bow in hand and still land an arrow in a bullseye. He did two small jumps followed by a double flip. Annie and the other kids all cheered. Clint watched Leticia out the corner of his eye. He hoped he could make her laugh, but she hid behind Bucky when Clint made eye contact. 

“Can you do three flips?” a little boy asked. 

Clint scooted over away from the kids, took a couple of small jumps and then executed a triple flip perfectly. 

“I wanna do it!” Annie yelled. “Can you show me?” 

“Now kids,” Bucky broke in. “Remember that Mr. Hawkeye is a superhero, so he does some things that aren’t safe for you until you are older.” 

Annie groaned but nodded. 

“Maybe Mr. Hawkeye could play another game with you?” Bucky said, looking at Clint and smiling. 

“Mr. Hawkeye also goes by Clint,” Clint said. “I heard your name is Bucky.” 

“You’re right. I am Mr. Bucky,” he said. “How about you guys go play basketball?” 

Clint looked around at the kids, and they all nodded their heads eagerly. He led them to the basketball court and noticed that Bucky didn’t follow behind. In fact, he and Leticia walked the opposite direction. He didn’t dwell on it. It was time to show some pups how to dunk. 

\-----

“Everything okay?” Sarah asked when Bucky and Leticia came over. She and Captain America were sitting on a picnic table and chatting in the cafeteria area. 

“We were thinking of taking a weighted blanket break while Mr. Clint distracts the kids,” Bucky said. “You want to come with us?” 

“I can help,” Cap said. “I’m Sam, I’ve heard all about you.” He didn’t extend his hand to shake, and Bucky appreciated it. Omegas rarely shook hands due to the sensitive scent glands on their wrists. 

“Is that okay with you, Tiny Bear?” Bucky asked Leticia. “Nobody’s feelings will be hurt if you say no.” 

Leticia extended her hand to Sam and held onto Bucky’s with the other. Bucky and Sarah had already picked out a quiet room for Leticia to recover in when she got overstimulated, and they’d put her weighted blanket in there along with a few soft toys and a dim light. 

Sam settled onto the ground, and Letitia scooted up close to him. 

“You want to share your blanket with your uncle?” Bucky asked. 

Leticia leaned her head against Sam’s shoulder, which Bucky took as an answer. He laid her blanket across her knees and draped the remaining bit over Sam’s legs. Bucky handed her Snuffles the Wolf. 

Once everyone was situated, Bucky let Leticia lead whether they talked. She seemed content to whisper to her uncle about all the fun things she’d done lately and then rest quietly against him. 

After a few minutes, Sam whispered, “I think she fell asleep.” 

“That’s okay,” Bucky replied. “As long as we don’t let her sleep for more than ten minutes.” Sam nodded. On the news, Cap always seemed so filled with purpose and larger than life. Seeing him like this, soft and gentle with Leticia, it felt like they were pack and not strangers.

“You’re good with her,” Sam said. There was a wistfulness to his tone that caught Bucky by surprise. 

“You are, too.” 

Sam sighed. “I try, but…” He looked away from Bucky and watched Leticia’s sleeping face. “I worry about what kind of world she’ll grow up in. I’m so busy fighting, I’m not around like I’d like to be.” 

“She talks about you all the time.” 

Sam smiled sadly. “I’m sure it’s fun to have Captain America at your party.” 

“Nah,” Bucky said. “She only ever calls you Uncle Sam not Cap.” 

“Really? That’s, yeah. That’s cool.” Sam closed his eyes and leaned back, a small pleased smile on his lips. 

Bucky set a timer and let his mind wander. It was fun to meet two superheroes in one day. It meant a lot to the pups to have werewolf heroes they could look up to, and they had been so excited to have Hawkeye play with them. Clint looked at the kids like they were important, and engaged with them on their level in a way a lot of adults didn’t. Of course, Bucky liked that Clint was easy on the eyes, all big broad alpha shoulders and thick biceps, but that was something he could think about later. 

\-----

Clint helped the kids take shots, even lifting a few of them up so they could dunk. “And the crowd goes wild!” Clint called out. All the kids cheered and squealed. He let each kid do one dunk shot before he announced that it was his turn. He grinned at them and made small jumps to build anticipation. 

“Who thinks I can dunk it?” 

All the kids raised their hands. 

“Who thinks I can do a flip and then dunk it?” 

“Whoa,” Annie said. “No way.” 

Clint made a show of concentrating like he needed to build up the courage to try. Once the kids were all quiet and their eyes glued to his movements, Clint jumped high, did a flip, and double-handed dunked the basketball.

The kids went wild with cheers, and Clint let them all try a few more basketball shots. 

“Anybody want to race?” Clint said. 

Several kids raised their hands, and Clint led them to a long stretch of trampoline that curved up the wall. One pup, who introduced himself as Griff, volunteered to go first and lined up next to Clint for an out and back race. Someone shouted go, and Clint and Griff took off running all the way down the long trampolines. Griff fell behind, because Clint was not the kind of person to let a kid win without making them work for it. Right as he neared the finish line, a basketball sailed through the air and hit him in the stomach, making Clint fall to the ground. Griff raced past, and all the pups cheered his victory. 

“That’s sweet revenge!” Steve yelled out. Clint groaned and rolled onto his side.

Determined to make the best of it, he crawled over to Griff and gave him a big high five. “Best out of two?” As he ran by Steve, Clint stuck his tongue out. “You are a bad example for the pups.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Steve said. “You’re still in your pajamas.” 

The kids’ interest eventually petered off, and they wandered over to other activities. 

Clint found Leticia playing in a corner with Bucky and a couple of her friends. The pups were all chattering about some TV show they loved, and Clint hoped they liked Dog Cops. He could talk about that show for hours. Clint jumped to join them on the trampoline, accidentally shooting Leticia in the air. She screamed, and Bucky caught her and landed on the trampoline shielding her with his body. 

Leticia cried into Bucky’s shoulder and raised a pudgy finger at Clint. “Bad,” she said. “Not nice.” 

Bucky rocked her and pressed his cheek against the top of her head. “It was an accident, Tiny Bear. But you were very brave.” 

“Yeah?” Leticia sniffed. 

“Definitely. Your mom might even let you have another piece of cake once she finds out how brave you were.” 

“Us, too?” one of the other pups said. 

“Well…” Bucky rocked Leticia and pretended to think. “I bet everyone could get an extra half piece each if you ask nicely.” 

Leticia’s head popped up, and she wiped the tears off her cheeks. She squeezed Bucky’s neck and then ran off with her friends straight for the cake. 

“I’m sorry,” Clint called out after her. He could feel himself drooping. Sam was part of his pack, which meant Leticia was, too. He’d hoped she would like him. 

Bucky gently touched Clint’s arm. “Don’t worry about it. She’s upset now, but all she’ll remember later is that the Amazing Hawkeye played with her.” 

Clint didn’t smell a lie on the omega, but Bucky was probably wearing scent blockers. Still, he doubted Leticia would forgive him that easily. 

“She’s overstimulated, too,” Bucky continued. “This is a lot more noise and movement than she has day to day, but she was heart set on a trampoline party.” 

Clint pointed at his hearing aids. “I feel that. Hearing aids plus screaming pups equals massive headaches.” 

Bucky pursed his lips in consideration. “Hmm. If you want, you can use Leticia’s quiet place. Take the door beside the concession stand and that whole area should be deserted.” 

It was a thoughtful gesture. And now that Clint had Bucky to himself, he noticed that the omega had beautiful grey-blue eyes that Clint wanted to get lost in, and long dark eyelashes. 

“You’re, uh, really good with pups,” Clint said. “And, you’re beautiful. Handsome. I mean, you’re--” 

“Working,” Bucky interrupted. His smile was tight-lipped, and Clint immediately knew he’d stepped in it. Crap. Omegas probably didn’t like getting hit on at work. Hell, most people didn’t. Clint tilted his head to the side and bared his neck in apology. 

Bucky made a show of rolling his eyes at the over the top gesture, but he didn’t suppress his smile. “Alpha theatrics,” he murmured as he walked away. 

Situation salvaged, Clint sat down on one of the foam pads for a break. Steve came over and sat down beside him. “How’s it going?” 

“I just met my future mate.” 

Steve groaned and knocked his shoulders against Clint’s. The little alpha didn’t have any room to talk, it wasn’t as though he was always well behaved either. “You promised.” 

“I explicitly did not promise,” Clint said. “I only said I’d try.” He sighed and flopped backward. “He’s really something though. Good with pups, cute, gentle. I’m telling you, Steve. We’re meant to be.” 

“Just don’t let Sam or Sarah hear you say that.” 

“And don’t you rat me out,” Clint said. 

——

Clint kept an eye on Bucky for the rest of the party. The omega looked so confident and joyful with the kids. It was a little annoying that some of the parents weren’t playing with the pups and treated Bucky like a party entertainer instead of Leticia’s aide, but the omega handled it with patience and professionalism. 

Clint was already planning out their lives together: hunting, running in the woods, feeling safe and known with each other. But then Bucky bent down to pick up a child’s red bow, ass in the air, and Clint’s mind immediately went to what Bucky would look like presenting. Sweaty Bucky all desperate and leaking slick. 

Clint felt the shift into his werewolf form coming with the inevitability of a sneeze. His face elongated into a narrow snout, fangs protruded from his mouth, and a riot of brown and white fur sprung up under his cheekbones and all the way down his neck. He grew a foot in height, and sharp claws emerged from his hands and feet. 

If any humans were present, they would have been terrified of Clint’s giant, furry form, but as this was a werewolf party, the pups were excited. Griff cheered and wrestled out of his shirt so he could shift. Bucky picked up the pup just as fur began to sprout from his cheeks. 

“Wanna play,” Griff whined. 

Bucky bit his lip to stifle a laugh and pointedly ignored Clint’s gaze. “Not right now, buddy. You’ll tear the trampolines.” 

The disappointed whines of several pups caught the attention of the adults. 

“Clint!” Steve barked. 

Clint yowled at him mournfully because this really wasn’t his fault. Had he seen Bucky’s ass? Anyone would have let their primal urges take over. It wasn’t like he jumped Bucky, he just got suddenly and overpoweringly horny, and his Were form decided to come out and play. 

Sam and Steve hurried over, careful of the tears Clint’s claws were making in the trampoline. “Can you shift back?” Sam said. 

Clint tried, he did, but with all the little kids giggling, Clint couldn’t focus enough to shift. A real bummer since his shirt had torn down the front and his tail was cramped underneath the pants. Plus his hearing aids had fallen out. He didn’t need them in his furry forms, but he hated to lose them. 

“All right,” Steve said. “We can’t have you ripping up any more of the trampolines.” To Clint’s relief, he scooped up the fallen hearing aids and put them in his pocket. He and Sam both took one side of Clint and tried to pick him up. Steve struggled to keep Clint’s ass in the air, because for all his pluck, he wasn’t a strong guy. One of the other parents rushed over to help, and they slowly made their way to the concrete. This was the worst. Even Bucky was laughing now, and, holy shit, Sarah looked furious. 

“You had to do your Were form,” Sam grumbled. “Couldn’t have just been a wolf, no. That would have been too easy.” 

They put Clint down once they made it to a solid surface, and Clint hobbled behind Sam and Steve to the employee locker room with his movements restricted by his too-tight pants. He had a moment of quiet to shed his torn shirt before Sarah stormed in carrying a pitcher of ice water with her. 

“Whoa, sis,” Sam said, stepping between her and Clint. “Give him a second. It happens to all of us. I mean, usually as teenagers, but still.” 

Sarah expertly dodged her brother and dumped the ice water on Clint’s form. He understood. Clint was mad at himself, too. 

“Please don’t shake,” Steve said. And oh crap, now that the idea was planted in his head it was like an itch he had to scratch, so he shook his body and sprayed the other three with water and werewolf hair. 

“Ugh,” Sam said. “I swear you’re were-dog and not a werewolf.” 

Clint whined mournfully, and Steve took pity on him and helped him wrestle out of his pants. Even Sarah murmured, “I’m sorry.” 

“You know,” Steve said, as he mopped the water off the floor with cheap paper towels. “This may not be Clint’s fault. Maybe he and Bucky are true mates.” 

“That’s a myth made up to control omegas,” Sarah huffed. 

“No,” Steve insisted. “Bruce showed me a scientific article about it. I mean, omegas are rare nowadays and true mates even more, but it’s definitely a real phenomenon.” 

“Then why hasn’t Bucky changed, too?” Sam said. 

“I think the alpha changes first to show interest,” Steve said, “and then—” The three of them shared a worried look. “We’ve got to get Bucky.” 

Sam and Steve ran out, and Sarah followed them grumbling about never inviting Avengers to her kid’s birthday parties again. 

Now that the room was empty, Clint focused and tried to change back to his human form. No dice. He’d never been particularly mentally disciplined, but this made him wish he’d practice meditation with Bruce. 

Sam, Steve, and Sarah re-entered the room with a confused Bucky right behind. “This is because of me?” Bucky said indignantly.

Everyone looked between the grumpy omega and the alpha in his giant, wet Were form. When Bucky didn’t shift, Clint wished the floor of the locker room would open up and swallow him whole. It would be fine. The Avengers would find someone else who was good at shooting things, probably someone who would be on time for meetings and never embarrass Sam with his stained clothes and unruly hair. 

“Hey,” Bucky said softly. He came closer and scratched the wet fur behind Clint’s ears. “Don’t be sad. This kind of thing happens sometimes; it’s nothing to be ashamed of. On the bright side, all of the kids love you, and you made Leticia’s party so fun for them.” Suddenly, his whiskers began to sprout and Bucky said, “Oh crap!” before pulling off his shirt and shimmying out of his pants as the shift overtook him.

In his wolf form Bucky looked, well, he looked pissed off but beautiful. Silver white fir, dark black ringing his eyes, long lean limbs. But something was different. 

He was glowing, 

bright pink, 

turquoise and white, 

light emanating from within. 

Wolf, cherry blossom, 

and the answer to every question Clint had ever had. 

Sam sighed as though Clint finding his true mate was Captain America’s burden. “No sex. Just greetings, and then you two can revert.”

Bucky’s head whipped in Sam’s direction looking truly offended. Sam made to leave, but Sarah refused to budge. “I’m not leaving him alone with an alpha who can’t control himself.” 

“Clint would never--” Steve said. 

“I don’t care,” Sarah said, all steely-eyed determination. “I’m not leaving my omega friend alone with an alpha he doesn’t know, and if you two don’t get it, you’re bigger knotheads than I thought.” 

Sam sat down heavily on one of the benches. “You’re right, sis. We’ll stay to supervise if you want to go back to the party.” Sarah nodded her agreement and left the room. 

Clint was so transfixed with Bucky that he only half-listened to the others in the room. Bucky hadn’t shifted into his Were form, just the wolf, and Clint hoped that wasn’t a bad sign. 

Clint took a tentative step forward, but Bucky snarled and the alpha came to an abrupt stop. Whining, Clint bared his throat, hoping the omega would again respond to his show of submission. Bucky’s shoulder’s remained taut and unmoving. 

Throwing all dignity out, Clint rolled onto his back and exposed his belly. He was still an intimidating sight in his Were form and much larger than Bucky, but Clint hoped it was the thought that counted. 

Bucky huffed and butted his head against Clint’s shoulder to try to get him to stand up. Whatever scent blockers he wore must only work in his human form, because Clint caught a whiff of honeysuckle and ginger, and he was in heaven. It shouldn’t have worked as a scent, should have been cloying or clashed, but somehow it was perfect, spicy and sweet. 

Clint wagged his tail slowly, and Bucky lay down next to him with a long sigh. Clint flopped onto his side and carefully pawed at Bucky’s nose, trying to get him to play. Bucky blocked his paw the first couple of times, but he didn’t seem hostile just exasperated. Eventually, Bucky joined in, and Clint snorted playfully when Bucky’s paw hit his snout. Their play slowly escalated until Bucky stood up, dropped his shoulders and left his haunches in the air. 

Bingo. A play stance. Clint rolled to his paws and immediately mimicked Bucky’s position. Just as they were about to start wrestling, Sam cleared his throat. 

“Sorry guys, but this is really not the time. 

Clint let out a low growl, but Bucky shifted back to his human form. Clint, Sam, and Steve averted their eyes to give him some privacy. Werewolves weren’t prudish about nakedness, but the situation required more delicacy. 

“This means nothing,” Bucky said once he re-dressed. His face was flushed red with embarrassment, and his earlier playfulness had vanished. “I mean, you are nice and all, but you have no claim on me.” 

Clint bobbed his head yes, the movement strange in his Were form but the only way he could communicate. He’d win the omega over; he just needed time and a few well-planned dates. 

Once Bucky left, Sam and Steve went to get Clint some clothes and returned a few minutes later carrying a non-ripped shirt for him. Sam plunked down on a bench while Clint pulled on his sweatpants. Take that, Cap, Clint had needed the stretchy clothes after all. 

“Did you guys see him?” Clint said. He sat down on the ground and leaned his bare back against the metal locker, needing to cool down. “He was so beautiful.” Clint had seen other omega wolves before, but no one compared to Bucky. 

Sam laughed, and Clint was relieved to hear he had finally relaxed. “He must have some arctic wolf in him because that boy is fluffy.” 

“No, I mean all the...” Clint waved his hands around vaguely. “You know the colors and lights and stuff?” 

Sam and Steve shared a confused look. “I didn’t see anything,” Steve said. “He’s handsome, and all. Maybe the colors are part of the true mate recognition. What prompted the shift? You interacted with him a lot before it happened.” 

Clint put his arms into the shirt and lifted it over his head. “Well, he bent over, so…” Once Clint’s head peaked out, he saw twin looks of horror. 

“You’re saying you saw his ass and knew you were true mates?” Sam exclaimed. Aw, no, Chill Sam was gone. When Clint nodded, Sam groaned. “You can NOT tell him that.” 

“Why not?” 

“Well,” Steve said, he was apparently the calm one today. “It’s supposed to be something like his eyes, his intelligence or kindness, something not _overtly_ sexual.” 

Clint thought it over. “But if he’s my _one true mate_ , won’t he get it and, like, be flattered or something?” 

“Look,” Sam sighed. “We’re all alphas and don’t have to deal with the same bullshit omegas do. People see them as, you know--” 

“Sexual objects,” Steve said. “You don’t want Bucky to think that’s how you see him. I mean, you like other things about him besides his looks, right?” 

Clint nodded, still in a bit of a daze, but he saw his friends’ point. 

“Just tell the guy it was anything but his ass. Literally. Anything except his ass. I can’t handle my sister’s wrath.” Sam patted Clint on the shoulder a little harder than was necessary and walked out. 

“He’s a little stressed,” Steve whispered. “Bucky’ll like you, just be yourself.” 

Clint smiled and closed his eyes. He didn’t need Steve to reassure him. He’d never been more sure of anything in his life. Now he just needed to show Bucky how great they would be together. 

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A shot narrowly missed Bucky, and he sunk to a crouch. Clint found the player immediately and shot him with precision accuracy. Bucky hoped his scent blockers were working because he apparently had a competency kink a mile wide. 
> 
> Or: A little Bucky backstory, Natasha goes overboard, and Clint and Bucky play laser tag

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, huge thanks to LilyintheSnow for beta-ing this story for me! And to Ro for being such a good friend.
> 
> *Added in a painting of Bucky in wolf form to the previous chapter, you can also see it here: https://flic.kr/p/2iKmkkP

The Barnes family treasured wolf culture. As a part of the Indiana pack, they held monthly moon ceremonies with backyard fires and howls. They went on family vacations to reserves where they could hunt elk or deer together. At night, Winifred and George told them tales of the great werewolves throughout history, including important omegas. And every solstice, they ran together all night to symbolize how the first pack circled the earth and brought about the rebirth of the sun. Bucky was proud of his family and proud to be a wolf. 

However, growing up an omega had been difficult. Before Bucky presented, he was like any other kid, if a little on the small side. During the summer, Bucky and his twin sister, Becca, used to hunt rabbits on their grandparent’s farm. They were often too distracted by play-wrestling and chasing one another to catch anything, but their grandmother cheered them on all the same. In the evening, Bucky would sit on the floor while his grandfather tried to tame the mess of curls on his head. His grandparents even let Jerry, Bucky’s best friend, come visit, and the three young wolves ran until they were exhausted balls of fluff and ravenous for a slice of strawberry rutabaga pie. 

After Bucky and Becca presented in ninth grade, things began to change. Bucky learned he was vulnerable as an omega, and he had to be careful around others. Initially, Becca was obsessive about protecting her brother, her alpha instincts were new and out of control. Winifred asked their teachers to put them in different homerooms so they would get a chance to level out their instincts and make their own friends. 

It went well until Jerry presented as an alpha. At first, Jerry and Bucky made jokes about their designations, and their families were supportive of their friendship. Jerry’s parents even expressed hope that they would mate one day. Things with Jerry had started out playful, but once Bucky made it clear that he wasn’t romantically interested in him, everything changed. Jerry began teasing him and calling him a “breeder.”

“You say no now,” Jerry had said, “but you’ll beg for me later. All omegas do.” 

Without protection from Jerry or Becca, the other alphas started following Bucky around and taunting him mercilessly. He’d finally told his mother, and Winifred had rained down hellfire and brimstone on the principal, insisting that her son had a right to be safe at school. The PTA met, and everyone agreed that safeguarding the omegas in the pack was paramount. That solved the taunting, but not the whispers and veiled sexual comments. 

Becca asked to switch classes so she could watch out for Bucky, but Winifred insisted that Bucky learn to advocate for himself instead of relying on an alpha. Although a beta herself, Winifred had taught Bucky and his siblings about the struggle for omega rights and had even gone to a few protests when she was young before she knew she’d have an omega child. 

“Everyone deserves the right to live life the way they want,” Winifred had said. “And I don’t care what designation you are—omega, beta, alpha — nobody gets to tell you what to do with your body.” 

The first time Bucky heard her speech, he had felt shy and embarrassed. By the fifth time, Bucky had rolled his eyes and shared snickering glances with his sisters. But the truth was he was grateful to his mother for her insistence on his rights and happiness, grateful to have her in his corner. 

College had been a time of liberation for Bucky. He’d met other omegas and formed a club with them. His school was one of the few institutions that allowed both werewolf and human students, and he found that the humans didn’t care about his designation. Still, there had been a few older werewolf professors who raised an eyebrow at having an omega in their classroom and made their opinion about his role in the world clear. Bucky reported them; Winifred didn’t raise him to take shit from anyone. 

Dating had been complicated. He was attracted to all designations, but he had learned from his experience with Jerry that sometimes alphas who publicly spoke in favor of omega rights expected something different from _their_ omega. 

Ever willing to try new things, Bucky had even dated a few humans. George and Winifred were supportive, even though such relationships were taboo. The humans were okay, either weirded out or way too into his omega biology. But what he really wanted, when he was honest with himself, was a powerful wolf with whom he could hunt and play; someone who could challenge him but saw them as equals. 

So he wasn’t opposed to going on a date with Clint per se, but he also would not fall into the house omega role just because of some true mate nonsense. 

\---

Bucky arrived home from grad school a few days after the party and noticed that the kitchen window was open. He was usually careful to shut his windows even though he was on the eighth floor, and he immediately felt wary. 

“I heard you met your mate,” a woman said. Bucky jumped in surprise, whirling around and snarling. 

The woman stood half in shadow, but Bucky could make out her high cheekbones and the brilliant red of her hair. She was an omega; he knew it immediately. Her scent was muted, likely on high-powered suppressants, but omegas had the strongest sense of smell of all the designations and could uniquely identify one another. 

Bucky felt the muscles of his body coil; he wouldn’t be taken without a fight. “I don’t have a mate, so if you intend to hold me ransom—” 

“Of course not.” The woman stepped into the light. She tilted her head to the side and knit her brows together in confusion. “Why would you think that?” 

The woman held herself stiffly, muscles tight, and hands drawn into fists. She was scared, Bucky realized suddenly. He had done an internship at a mental health facility and recognized the signs of trauma. 

“If you two are together,” Bucky said, “I won’t come between you. Nothing has even happened yet, and I didn’t know he was spoken for.” 

The woman continued to stare at Bucky without moving. She seemed to grow more confused and glanced around as though she were looking for answers. Bucky decided to try a different approach. 

“What’s your name?” He sat down on the couch but did not turn on the light. “You can stay awhile if you like. I have hot chocolate.” 

“We’re not like that,” the woman said, as though she hadn’t heard what Bucky had just said. “I owe him my life, and I will repay him by keeping his mate safe.” She took a few steps forward and perched on the arm of the couch. “My name is Natasha,” she said. The name sounded unfamiliar on her tongue as though she was just trying it. 

When Bucky smiled at her, Natasha appeared to regain her confidence. “The locks on your windows weren’t good enough,” she said. “I installed new ones up here, and there’s a tripwire that will send up an alarm if someone tries to break in that way.”

“You what?” Bucky said. He did his best to keep his voice level, and his body language open. 

“I also set up an alarm on your front door.” 

“Wait. Hold on. This is very kind of you, but how do I turn it off?” Bucky asked. He stood up and investigated the door, trying to figure out where the alarm was even placed. 

Natasha looked at him incredulously. “ _You_ don’t turn it off. I turn it off once I have neutralized the threat.” 

“Okay.” Bucky took a deep breath. He really didn’t like the idea of someone monitoring him, but he didn’t want to argue yet. “What if you go out of town? I need to be able to turn it off myself.” 

Natasha nodded decisively, like this question, unlike his previous ones, wasn’t stupid. “One of my contacts will monitor you in my absence. They will know a code phrase that I text you before I leave to ensure that they aren’t Hydra.” 

“Hydra?!” Bucky looked around as though an operative might be hiding in the shadows. He knew about Hydra, they were always dusting up a storm somewhere, but they were all bluster, political grandstanding. “They’re just a political group, it’s not like they are the FBI.” 

Natasha pulled a drill out of the shadows and began installing a small video camera in the living room, which, no that would not work, but he knew he’d have to wait until she left to take it down. “Hydra kept me captive for 70 years,” she said, tone matter-of-fact. “Brainwashed me and made me do their bidding. I only got out because Clint… Well, he’s an idiot, for doing it, but I got out.” 

Bucky sat down again, trying to take this all in. Hydra had military operations? And how old was Natasha? “I didn’t know that,” he said, feeling small and overwhelmed. “I’m sorry that happened to you.” 

Natasha shrugged and cleaned up the shavings left by the drill. She pulled out another small camera and began installing it in between the living room and the kitchen.

“Natasha, come on, sit down,” Bucky said in between the whirring of the drill. “Why would Hydra even want me? They want soldiers, probably. I’m just a grad student.” 

Natasha put down her drill suddenly making a thunk noise on the table. She marched over to Bucky and narrowed her eyes at him, posture stiff and intimidating. “Omegas have the power to manipulate alphas and betas. Even with humans, omegas are particularly alluring; you must have noticed. You would be perfect for honeypot missions or swaying prominent wolves. They might even use you for breeding. Or, or they might kidnap you to torture Clint.” Her voice grew in pitch, body tense, and Bucky smelled a faint scent of fury and terror. 

“Hey,” Bucky said. He held up his hands and tried to look non-threatening. “Let’s just take a moment and sit down.” He noticed Natasha’s chest heaving up and down. “Do you want some hot cocoa or tea? I have a good mint lavender tea.” 

“Water,” Natasha croaked. As the terror began to fade, it was as though all her strings had been cut, and her shoulders rolled forward. Bucky carefully reached forward, cupped her elbow, and led her to his couch. He then filled up a glass of ice water for each of them. 

They sat in silence, drinking their water, and Natasha’s breathing slowed. Bucky could still smell the scent of distressed omega, and he wanted to cuddle Natasha to his chest or wrap her in a soft blanket. “You want to stay here tonight?” he asked. 

Natasha shook her head numbly. Her cheeks were thin, he noticed, like she hadn’t been eating enough, and she looked exhausted. 

“I haven’t eaten yet,” Bucky said. “We could split a pizza.” 

The corner of Natasha’s mouth quirked up, not yet a smile but an improvement over the blankness. “You and Clint really are perfect for one another.” 

Bucky wasn’t sure what that meant, but he was pleased to see Natasha relax. “We’re not anything. He gave me his number, but I haven’t called yet. I haven’t decided what I want to do.” He looked up at Natasha. “I know you said you two aren’t like that, but if things ever change, I would never want to get in between you guys. Okay?” 

Natasha hiccuped an exhausted laugh. “No. I don’t… Clint’s not for me.” She wouldn’t meet Bucky’s eyes, choosing instead to look over his shoulder. She reached into her leather jacket and pulled out a small phone. “He’s a good man, but if he ever does anything, or you feel unsafe for any reason at all, you can call me.” 

“Do you think Clint would hurt me?” Bucky said. 

The woman shrugged. This close, Bucky could make out the worried lines between her brows, the subtle downturn of her lips. “He never has me, but…” 

“He’s an alpha,” Bucky finished for her. 

Clint seemed safe to Bucky so far, but he’d been fooled before. And he imagined that trusting any alpha would be difficult for someone as traumatized as Natasha. She held out the phone, and Bucky took it from her gloved hands. It felt like a precious gift. Natasha was willing to cross the person she cared about most in the world in order to protect another omega. 

“Thanks.” 

Natasha nodded and leaned back. She closed her eyes and some of the strain fell away from her face. She peeked one eye open. “Meat lovers pizza?” 

Bucky barely suppressed pumping his fist in the air. He and Natasha would become friends if it killed him. Omegas had to stick together. 

“Hell yeah,” Bucky said. He hopped up and grabbed a takeout menu from the fridge. “I’ll call it in real quick.” 

Once the pizza arrived, they both ate several slices and watched Brooklyn 99. Natasha looked dead on her feet but insisted on leaving. 

“I’ll be back soon to teach you basic hand to hand,” she said. “Don’t get killed.” 

“I’ll do my best,” Bucky said. “Come back anytime. It’s always nice to have another omega around.” 

Natasha started to smile but turned quickly as though she wasn’t ready to share her happiness yet. She walked out the door without another word. 

———

Bucky waited a few more days to call Clint, but eventually, curiosity got the best of him. 

“I’m so pumped you called,” Clint said, sounding ebullient over the phone. “I mean, I haven’t used my phone for a call in forever. Mostly I just text funny dog memes, but hearing your voice is nice.” 

“Actually—” 

“Uh oh,” Clint said. “Actually, is not a promising word. If you want to end things, please give me a chance first. I promise—” 

“No, I mean. There’s just something I want to clear up with you first.” 

Clint breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Now that you are in your human form and can talk,” Bucky said, “I just wanted to reiterate that I’m not going to drop everything for an alpha, and I’m in no rush to get mated, and dating me is not consent for anything sexual to happen.” 

“Huh,” Clint said. “Dating must suck for omegas.” 

Clint’s frankness startled a laugh out of Bucky. “Yeah. Sometimes.” 

“Well, I agree to all your terms and will do my best to not be an ass. Cap would murder me if I fucked up anyway. Either him or Sarah. They are both terrifying. Seriously, Cap is making me report in--” 

“Clint.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Do you want to go on a date with me?” 

“Yup,” Clint said, clearing his throat to gather his wits. “I already made a plan.” 

\---

They met the next day at Jack and the Magic Beanstalk, a werewolf friendly moderately upscale coffee shop. Clint was bouncing on his feet with excitement. He rushed over to Bucky with his arms raised to hug, thought better of it, put his arms down and awkwardly waved. 

“You can hug me, Clint,” Bucky said. Clint apparently did not need to be told twice, because he enveloped Bucky into a soft hug. Clint’s scent made Bucky want to curl up in warm blankets by a fireplace, and he caught himself nuzzling into Clint’s chest. 

“Oh, sorry,” Bucky said, jumping away and stumbling over his feet. “You smell nice. Good. You smell good.” 

Clint’s answering smile was huge. He looked so happy, like he was a cat and Bucky was a patch of sunlight warmed carpet. It was heady to have someone look at him like that. 

They ordered their drinks, casting awkward glances at one another the whole time. Bucky wanted to romp in some tall grass or run around, something to get the feel for Clint’s wolf. The coffee shop was too boring to really get a sense of one another. 

Clint picked a small round table for them in the corner, and, once Bucky was seated, went to fetch their drinks. The alpha sat down, and he and Bucky shared a long uncomfortable moment. 

“Okay, I don’t know you well,” Clint said, “but you seem… fidgety.” 

Bucky ducked his head. He didn’t mind speaking his mind, but he didn’t want to be rude. “Oh, it’s just. I was raised in a more traditional family.” 

Clint nodded seriously. “I should have presented your family with a stag and asked their permission to court you? Where do they live? We can do that first.” 

What a sweet handsome goofball. “Not that kind of traditional. More like, we didn’t do that many human traditions. And, no offense, this is kind of a _human_ date.” 

“Yes!” Clint crowed. He stood up quickly and in the process knocked their drinks over. “Aw, coffee, no.” Clint ran to get napkins and began mopping up the soggy mess. 

“Cap made me do this,” he exclaimed. “He thinks he’s always right.” Clint did his best Sam impression, “‘Go slow and take Bucky out for coffee, then lunch, then dinner. Don’t rush this or I’ll kill you.” 

Bucky giggled, and Clint grinned. “I told him, we’re wolves; we need to run! None of this boring human bullshit.” A human man at a nearby table shot Clint a scowl. “Sorry, sorry. I’m sure your dates aren’t _all_ boring.” 

Bucky covered his laugh with his hand. He had to get Clint out of there before anything else got destroyed. He hurried to his feet and pulled Clint out of the door. “We have to leave before we destroy anything else. Unless.” He cast a worried look over his shoulder. “You want to finish this date here.” 

“Nope,” Clint said. “We can’t make it to the reserve to run, but we could find something more active.” 

Bucky grinned wolfishly. “How do you feel about laser tag?” 

\---

In Bucky’s opinion, laser tag was a pretty genius substitution for a run. They’d still get to stalk and hunt, but they wouldn’t have to worry about losing their clothes in the woods, scaring humans, or getting rabbit fur between their teeth. 

Bucky’s favorite laser tag place was a ten-minute Lyft ride away, and soon he and Clint were buying their tickets for a few hours of play. 

“Nice to see you, Bucko!” Timothy called out. Timothy Dugan was the owner of Laser Cat Laser Tag, and a big goofball with a thick handlebar mustache. “You here to break a newbie in?” 

“Actually,” Bucky said, feeling the heat rise on his cheeks, “I’m here on a date. Timothy, this is Clint; Clint this is Timothy.” 

Timothy extended his hand and when Clint took it, the big human squeezed but didn’t let go. “I trust you will be a gentleman, Clint. And that I won’t have to hunt you down and teach you manners later.” 

Humans were so dumb sometimes. If Timothy had been a werewolf, that kind of talk would have been a clear invitation for a fight. There was no need to challenge an alpha during courtship unless the situation warranted it. 

“Werewolves don’t do shovel talks, Tim,” Bucky said. “I know you’re trying to be nice, but—” 

Timothy dropped Clint’s hand quickly. “Right. Right. Sometimes I forget you’re not human. I mean, it’s _fine_ that you’re not human.” 

Clint chuckled. “You’re as bad at talking as I am. Now I see why Bucky puts up with me.” 

Timothy grinned, the smile magnified by his thick mustache. “Bucky’s been playing here for over a year. I could tell you stories.” 

“Nope.” Bucky pulled on Clint’s arm, but the alpha just grinned wide and goofy and didn’t budge. 

“Once he yelled at a middle school boy for missing a shot,” Timothy said conspiratorially. 

“He was picking on a smaller kid!” Bucky exclaimed. 

“And…” Timothy said. 

Bucky sighed, giving up. Maybe he should have found something else for them to do. “And he missed the shot. I can be mad about two things!” 

The interaction was cut mercifully short when a group of high school boys came over to register for a game. Clint was grinning ear to ear obviously thrilled with his new information.

“And here I thought you were Mr. Prim and Proper.” 

“You met me at work,” Bucky said. “I was being professional.” Clint was radiating pleased alpha hormones that made Bucky’s stomach squirm. “Fine. I may be a little competitive,” he confessed. “I rarely yell though. A one-time thing.” He was gentle and patient with the clients he worked with, but sometimes he got a little too intense into games. It wasn’t the most omega-like trait, but from the dopey look on Clint’s face, he liked it. 

“We are one hundred percent going to win this round,” Clint said. “It could be all of us against just them, and we’d still smoke them.” 

Timothy put them on the same team, with a few other kids on each side. Both teams grabbed their electronic guns and donned the vests with a mechanism that would light up if they were shot.

“All right, everyone knows the rules, signed the waiver, and promises to play a good, clean, game. Any questions?” Timothy said. 

No one in the group raised a hand. Bucky quickly looked at his teammates: two teenage boys, a short girl with all black clothes and straight bleach blonde hair, another adult, and Clint. 

“Anybody want to talk strategy?” he whispered to them. 

“I just want to shoot things,” the girl said. Clint fist bumped her and they shared a grin. 

“Go team Thundercat Hyena Fire Mouth,” one of the boys said. 

“Yes!” Clint said. “This kid gets it.” 

The inside of the laser tag room was painted black with dim lighting. There were two levels: the bottom had several barricades and fake foliage to take cover behind, up top a long bridged stretched between two parapets connecting to the ground on both sides by a ramp with two switchbacks. Experienced teams liked to plant a sniper up top because of the good vantage point, but they had little cover. 

Bucky and his regular teammates all had assigned roles and they usually split up. But today he felt the urge to stay close to Clint, to see how they hunted as a team. 

“Together?” Bucky said. 

“Awesome.” Clint bumped their bodies together a little too hard given their size difference. When Clint had to catch Bucky to keep him from falling, Bucky didn’t bother stifling his laugh. 

“Come on you goof,” Bucky said. “Let’s do this.” 

“No flirting on the course,” Timothy said teasingly through the speaker. He monitored the games by video feed to ensure fair play. “The countdown starts now, so find your positions.” 

Clint crouched down low and gestured for Bucky to follow him. They crept toward the ramp leading to the second level and squatted at the switchback point. 

“You take people coming up, and I’ll take people coming down,” Clint whispered. “We’ll get one to two shots before we have to move.” 

Bucky nodded. The countdown ended and the room burst into a flurry of activity. The other team had clearly played together because they kept a few players in static positions and used the rest to flush out opponents. One of them ran up the ramp and Bucky took him immediately.

“Shit!” the guy yelled out. It was a bit of a dick move, designed to show Bucky and Clint’s location without overtly cheating, but before anyone had the chance to target their position, Clint was up and running, tugging Bucky along behind him. 

“Here,” Clint said. He crawled into a small nook, which was gross, but Bucky appreciated his commitment. Clint lowered himself all the way onto the ground, and Bucky lay down next to him. They couldn’t see much from their position, but they were well protected. 

“We should make a play for the bridge next,” Bucky whispered. 

“Too big a risk,” Clint whispered back. “I’m too tall, it’ll draw attention. Next, we should swing wide and try to shoot any remaining targets.” 

There were grunts and shouts around the course as more people were shot. Bucky looked up at the counter to see the remaining numbers of players. Three of the other team and three of his team remaining.

A player took a cautious step near them, oblivious of Clint and Bucky’s position. It was the blond, emo girl. 

“Psst,” Bucky said. When the girl turned toward them, her eyes widened and she crouched down. “Think you can make it to the bridge to pick off survivors?” Bucky said. He glanced at Clint who nodded at the strategy. “We’ll go low.” 

The girl nodded decisively and crept towards the bridge. Clint and Bucky made it to one of the black walls, hoping to determine their opponents’ position based on the angle of their shots. Despite being a six-foot-plus wall of muscle, Clint moved gracefully and made no sound. 

A shot narrowly missed Bucky, and he sunk to a crouch. Clint found the player immediately and shot him with precision accuracy. Bucky hoped his scent blockers were working because he apparently had a competency kink a mile wide. 

The girl landed a shot on another player and was quickly shot herself. That left two to one and five minutes left. 

“What do you want to do?” Clint whispered. Bucky looked around the course, unable to figure out where the final shot had come from. 

“Not sure.” 

“There,” Clint said. He pointed at a stand of fake foliage halfway between them and the other side of the room. “I bet they’ve sighted us. I'll make a lot of noise to draw fire, and you take them out.” 

Bucky felt a surge of affection in his chest. Typically, the alpha would want to make the kill when hunting together, but Clint was giving Bucky that opportunity and sacrificing himself in the process. He surged up and pressed their foreheads together. 

Clint looked momentarily dumbfounded, but gathered his wits and ran off with a goofy smile on his lips. “I’m coming for you,” he yelled. 

Bucky crept down low while Clint made a racket, somehow avoiding being hit. With two minutes left in the game, Clint exposed his position completely and the opposing player took their shot. Bucky followed the trajectory of the shot, ran over, and shot the final player. 

Clint flopped about on the ground. “Avenge my death, Bucky! Don’t forget me!” 

Bucky hurried over to him and fell to his knees. “I didn’t let your sacrifice happen in vain. I will make sure they sing songs in your honor.” 

With the match over, the lights in the room came in, revealing just how dirty the floor was. Clint didn’t seem to mind. 

“Gross,” the girl said as she walked by. 

“Hey, you did great, kid,” Clint said. 

The girl blushed a bright pink and shot him a quick smile. “Thanks.” 

Clint pushed himself off the ground and slung an arm around Bucky. “That was awesome! Wanna play again or grab something to eat?”

\--

They ended up playing until Timothy told them people were complaining about losing and asked them to take a break.

“Uh, pizza?” Clint said. He was clearly loathe to end their date but didn’t want to be pushy about it. 

Bucky felt his stomach drop to his toes as the pizza comment reminded him of Natasha’s visit. It seemed like the type of thing he should tell the alpha, especially since he wanted to go on another date with Clint. 

“Yeah,” Bucky said. “But I have something to tell you first. Can we walk and talk?” 

Clint followed him outside, expression concerned. 

“I had a visitor a few nights ago,” Bucky said. “Unexpectedly. An unexpected visitor.” 

Clint nodded. “I feel like this is code for something, but I’m not sure… Are you saying you’re menstruating?” 

“I wouldn’t. No!” 

“Oh, okay.” Clint shrugged. “One of the human girls in the circus always called her period a visitor, so I just thought...” 

Bucky sighed loudly. This could not be his mate. “I would _not_ talk about my menstrual cycle on a first date!” A human woman near them raised her eyebrows, and Bucky pulled Clint off the sidewalk into an alley. 

“It’s completely natural,” Clint reassured him. “You don’t have to be embarrassed.” 

“No.” Bucky put both hands on Clint’s shoulders and pushed him against the wall. “I had a _person_ visit me last night.” He leaned forward and whispered, “Natasha.” 

“Nat?!” Clint said. “Oh god, she talked to you. Of course, she did. She made me clean up my apartment. Didn’t even help. Just said that my place isn’t fit for an omega and watched me get down on my knees and scrub the toilet.” 

Bucky smiled, imagining the tiny omega bossing around a big ol’ alpha. “You’re not mad?” He dropped his hands from Clint’s shoulders. “I think she was trying to help.” 

“Of course I’m not mad,” Clint said with a laugh. “She can do whatever she wants; I don’t, like, own her or anything. I do ask her to check in once a week just so I know whether she’s been kidnapped or something. And Nat does help with the Avengers sometimes.” 

“Why isn’t she on the team?” 

Clint huffed a laugh. “Nat’s her own woman, and after what she’s been through, I’m not going to try to make her do anything she doesn’t want to. I won’t force it. You know, it needs to be on her time, when it’s right for her.” 

Black Widow was simultaneously one of the most badass and traumatized omegas on the planet. She didn’t need to be treated with kid gloves and Clint being gentle but trusting her to take care of herself was perfect. 

Bucky felt a surge of affection for Clint. He stood up on his tiptoes and kissed the alpha on the corner of the mouth. 

“You’re way cooler than I originally thought,” Bucky said. 

Clint grins, easy and open. “You would not believe how many times people say that.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With his senses trained on Clint, Bucky shifted into his Were form—long limbs, sharp teeth, hands with claws. 
> 
> Clint’s eyes went wide. “Whoa,” he said. “You’re pretty.” 
> 
> Bucky leapt up and grabbed ahold of Clint’s heel. The alpha let himself be pulled off the rope, and Bucky slung him over his shoulder. 
> 
> “I have a room on the ninth floor,” Clint said. “Uh, just saying.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning: Brief reference to racist beliefs held by some Oregonians. Unfortunately, in 1920 Oregon had the highest KKK membership in the country, and some of those beliefs persist. None of the Avengers agree with these beliefs. Also, many older adults in Eastern Oregon do actually hate wolves. When I worked there, some of my patients would go on long anti-wolf rants. 
> 
> Thank you for all the wonderful comments! It warmed my cold, quarantined heart. :) I truly appreciate it. 
> 
> The Godx at the end of the chapter is inspired by the poem The Night by Rilke. Here is an excerpt. 
> 
> "But the dark embraces everything:  
> shapes and shadows, creatures and me,  
> people, nations–just as they are.
> 
> It lets me imagine  
> a great presence stirring beside me.
> 
> I believe in the night."

Bucky and Clint planned to meet at Clint’s apartment before heading to the Tower to do the Avenger’s obstacle course together. Sam had been all, “How will you get to know him if you don’t talk much on your dates?” Well, Sam, not all people talk through constant lectures. Besides, between Bucky’s school and work schedule, and Clint’s Avenging, which had caused them to cancel two dates, they needed activities where they could let off a little steam. 

Clint and Bucky texted every day now. Mostly dumb memes or things one of them found funny. But they were feeling their way towards something with one another, and it felt good. 

Unfortunately, they hit occasional snags. 

“What. Is. That?” Bucky said as soon as he stepped into Clint’s apartment. Lucky, Clint’s golden retriever, ambled over, looking for pets. 

Clint squatted down and scratched behind Lucky’s ears. “Uh, you’ve seen a dog before, right?” 

Bucky fixed him with an incredulous stare. “Of course, I have. But Ma always said, ‘Don’t play with your food.” 

Clint huffed a laugh. Bucky had to be joking. Everyone loved dogs. Well, except Tony, but even he let Clint bring Lucky to the Tower and slipped him table scraps when he thought no one was looking. 

“Didn’t you grow up on a farm?” Clint said. Every farmer Clint knew had at least two dogs running around. Man, Lucky would love all that space to explore. 

“My grandparents had a farm, not me. But even they never had a cow just lazing about in their house. It’s unsanitary.” 

Clint scratched the wiry fur on Lucky’s chin, and the dog looked up at him adoringly. Lucky wasn’t just a good dog, he was the best dog. “A bunch of mafia goons were harassing everybody on the block and were treating Lucky bad, abusing him and stuff. I, uh, took them out. And now I own this building and Lucky. Or half own Lucky. Kate takes him part of the time.” 

Bucky closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “That’s very nice of you, but why did you not eat him right after you got him?” 

Clint covered both of Lucky's floppy ears with his hands. “He’s not for eating!” 

“Not now that you’ve named him.” 

“You know dogs are closer to us on the genome thingie than humans are.” It wasn’t a direct path, at least, Clint didn’t think so. Bruce was the one who knew about genetics, but he hadn’t been by the Tower in six months. 

“Exactly! Hydra uses that genetic closeness as part of their whole ‘werewolves are a lesser species’ bigotry.” 

Clint picked up one of Lucky’s arms and pretended like the dog was pointing at Bucky. “Please don’t blame me for Hydra’s bullshit, Mr. Bucky,” he said in a squeaky voice. “All I want is belly rubs.” 

When Bucky looked unconvinced, Clint mushed Lucky’s jowls together. “Look at this squishy face. Who wouldn’t want to cuddle it?” 

Lucky wriggled out of Clint’s hold and approached Bucky, tail wagging and determined to make friends. Again, best dog ever. 

Bucky crouched down so he was on the same level as Lucky. “I recognize that you are a fellow predator, and will not challenge you in your home,” Bucky said seriously. 

Clint flopped back onto the floor dramatically. “Come on,” he groaned. “I think you have some internalized, uh, furdom? Wolf-shame?” 

“Speciesism,” Bucky said. He sounded skeptical, but obligingly let the dog sniff his hand. Clint cheered internally. Lucky and Bucky would be best friends, he knew it. They’d be Blucky or Lbucky? Whatever. Best friend's club. 

Lucky licked Bucky’s hand, and Bucky cracked a smile. Imitating Clint’s earlier actions, he gingerly scratched behind the dog's ears. Lucky responded by wagging his tail and rolling onto his back for belly rubs. Clint felt an unexpected and irrational swoop of jealousy. He wanted to be the one Bucky was petting. He wanted belly rubs. 

Some of Clint’s jealousy must have shown up in his scent because Lucky and Bucky turned to him in confusion. Lucky rolled to his feet and dutifully trotted over and rolled onto his back in front of Clint. 

“I’m not jealous of _your_ attention, pizza dog,” Clint said, but he rubbed the downy soft fur on Lucky stomach. 

Bucky smiled, a sweet little curve of his lips, and came over and sat down close to Clint. He reached out with each hand and petted both Lucky and Clint. After a moment he said, “This is weird. I’m only going to give one of you belly rubs at a time.” 

Clint began stripping his shirt off before Bucky finished his sentence. “Out of my way, fur face,” Clint said to Lucky. “Find your own man.” 

When Clint pulled off his shirt, he noticed Bucky was staring at his chest in shock and lust. 

“Shirt,” Bucky said intelligently. “You look. Muscles.” 

Clint nodded. He did look muscles. Bucky must have gone light on his scent blockers that day because Clint caught a wave of his spicy-sweet scent. Holy shit. He smelled delicious. Clint lay down with his head in Bucky’s lap and looked up at the omega hopefully. If he were in his wolf form, his tail would be wagging. 

Bucky ran a hand through Clint’s hair gently, and the alpha all but melted under the attention. This was heaven. Pets from Bucky, maybe cuddles later, and eventually sexy times. Wooing Bucky was going so well. 

Suddenly, Bucky’s fingers snagged on something in Clint’s hair, and the omega leaned forward to investigate. 

“Clint,” Bucky drawled. There was something in his voice warring between horrified and amused, and, oh no, Clint knew that tone. It always spelled bad news. “Why is there dried cheese in your hair?” 

Clint touched where Bucky’s fingers had gotten caught and felt a tacky substance. Yup, that was cheese. Huh. He’d even showered this morning. Sitting up, Clint pointed at Lucky. “You’re supposed to keep this from happening.” 

Bucky laughed and switched to scratching Lucky’s neck, and Lucky just lapped up all that attention. Traitor. “If I can’t blame him for Hydra, you can’t blame him for your cheese hair.” 

Lucky rolled to his feel and licked Bucky’s cheek. Clint expected him to yelp, but Bucky grinned and kissed the top of Lucky’s head. The dog looked up at him, all besotted adoration. 

“I ordered pizza last night after we got in from a mission,” Clint said with a sigh. “Musta fallen asleep with the box still in my bed. This asshole—” Clint pointed at Lucky again. “Is supposed to eat all the leftover pizza so I don’t keep rolling onto it in my sleep.” 

Bucky’s hand stilled. He glanced about as if he was expecting a hidden camera from a prank show to pop out. When no one appeared, he said, “You’re telling me that you rolled onto a pizza and didn’t notice?” 

“I was sleeping!” 

“And this has happened to you many times?” 

Clint nodded. 

Bucky appeared to be trying to stifle a laugh and failing. “Clint Barton,” he said,”if you ever expect to have sex with me, there better not be any pizza crumbs in your bed.” 

Clint leapt up and ran toward the bed to clean up. 

“Not right now!” Bucky said. “We’re going on a date first.” 

Clint halted, feeling his cheeks pink up. “Right. Yup. Just got sidetracked.” He clapped his hands against his legs. “Let’s go.” 

“Clint,” Bucky said, pursing his lips. “Clean the cheese out of your goddamn hair.” 

\----

“Tony created this course with wolf and human parallel options, which is pretty cool,” Clint said, as he showed Bucky around. “ Natasha’s the best in her wolf form, but I can beat her in human form.” He leaned over and whispered, “I suspect she’s letting me win.” 

The obstacle course started with a brown wall participants had to jump over, followed by stepping stones, a low tunnel, dodging panels, a ditch, corridors, balance beams, and several obstacles Bucky didn’t even know how to do. In the middle of the gym, there were several ropes strung up for climbing and tight rope walking, and Bucky suspected those were put in especially for Clint. 

“JARVIS can make everything harder by raising or lowering the height of the obstacles or firing projectiles and all that. But let’s start with the easiest version.” 

Clint leaned over and touched his toes, and Bucky bit his lip to keep from making a noise. 

Clint stood up, bent his knee behind his body and leaned forward with one arm extended in front of him and his bent leg pointing to the sky. 

“Tasha’s been teaching me yoga,” Clint said. He noticed Bucky staring and winked at him. The vain asshole. Clint was just so bendy; it was hard not to think sexy thoughts. 

Bucky studiously ignored Clint and went through the stretches he’d done in PE, those he could remember anyway, to give the impression of warming up. 

“I figured we could do the course once together in our human forms,” Clint said, “and then once you have the lay of the land, do whatever would be fun.” 

Bucky smiled. Fun. Sure. Watching Clint show off his shoulder muscles and get all sweaty sounded half fun, half torture. 

“You’re going to do fine,” Clint said. He clapped Bucky on the arm, and Bucky narrowed his eyes at him. He was going to do better than fine. 

They started on the low wall. Clint easily jumped up and straddled the wall and extended a hand down to Bucky. Bucky grabbed hold and with Clint’s help hefted himself up. 

“Wait,” Bucky said, before they jumped down. He squeezed Clint’s bicep appreciatively, winked, and jumped down. 

“I see how it is,” Clint said with a grin. He went through the next obstacle, jumping between boxes spaced apart without touching the ground. It took Bucky longer, but he made it. Next, they crawled through a tunnel. It was the only time so far Bucky’s smaller form had come in handy, and he didn’t hesitate to tell the large alpha. 

“Keep up if you can!” 

Clint chuckled. “I’m just going slow so I can look at your ass.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Bucky said, glad he was ahead so Clint couldn’t see his blush. “Whatever you need to tell yourself.” 

They made it through the rest of the course at a steady pace, Clint clearly slowing down so he could stay with Bucky. By the end of it, Bucky was panting and Clint had barely broken a sweat. It was good to use his body, he knew by the end of the day he’d feel wrung out and tired. 

“You wanna go again?” Clint said. The fucker. He was enjoying seeing Bucky pant. “Whatever form you want.” 

Bucky flopped onto the mat. “Give me a sec. Wait, can I be a wolf, and you’re human?” 

Clint plopped down next to him. “You can be whatever you want.” 

“I feel like you’re trying to be sexy but not quite making it.” 

Clint shrugged, clearly not minding the miss. “The locker room is over there if you want some privacy when you undress.” He was loose limbed and happy, and Bucky just wanted to rub up against him, nuzzle in close and lick the sweat off his chest. 

Clint leaned toward Bucky and obviously scented the air around him. “Seems like I’m doing well at sexy after all.” 

Bucky blushed furiously and hurried to his feet. “Shut up,” he murmured, smiling to soften his words. He went into the locker room and located a private stall in the corner. Once inside, he sat heavily on the bench and put his head between his legs. Gods but Clint was sexy. Bucky wanted to mess up his already messy hair and kiss that stupid grin off his face.

Bucky stripped off his clothes and transitioned into his wolf form, really letting himself feel the stretch of the shift. As a wolf, the chatter in Bucky’s brain went away. Life felt simpler, and he let himself become pure predator. He knew who he wanted to hunt. 

Bucky charged out of the locker room at Clint. The alpha had intended for them to go through the obstacle course again, but Bucky had his own goal in mind: muscles. He chomped onto a corner of Clint’s shirt and ripped it up the side. 

Clint looked down at his tattered shirt. “You know,” he drawled, all confidence and swagger. Bucky wanted to eat him right up. “If you wanted to see me topless, all you had to do is ask.” 

Bucky huffed and shook his fur out; the bite was the ask. Clint took his shirt off slowly, trying to make a show of it. When Bucky became impatient, he charged at Clint again, and the alpha yelped and pulled his shirt off immediately. 

Bucky crouched down, ready to spring forward, and Clint looked at him with his trademark big dopey grin before sprinting off. Encouraged by the scent of Clint’s delicious sweat, Bucky nipped at the alpha’s heels and ass when he got close enough. 

“Holy shit!” Clint said with a laugh after a particularly good bite. He jumped for a rope and began climbing up it. Not fair. Bucky thought about shaking the rope to get him free, but he didn’t want to hurt Clint. At least, not in non-sexy ways. 

With his senses trained on Clint, Bucky shifted into his Were form—long limbs, sharp teeth, hands with claws. 

Clint’s eyes went wide. “Whoa,” he said. “You’re pretty.” 

Bucky leapt up and grabbed ahold of Clint’s heel. The alpha let himself be pulled off the rope, and Bucky slung him over his shoulder. 

“I have a room on the ninth floor,” Clint said. “Uh, just saying.” 

Bucky plopped the alpha down on one of the wrestling mats and stood over him on four limbs. 

“Here’s good, too,” Clint said, wriggling out of his shorts. Bucky put a hand on Clint’s chest to still the alpha’s movement. Leaning over, Bucky pushed his snout right next to the scent glands on Clint’s neck and inhaled deeply. God, he smelled like oiled leather and pine trees. Bucky tilted back his head and howled in pleasure. 

“Mister Barton, may I have your attention?” JARVIS said. 

“Shut up, JARVIS!” Clint said. 

Bucky ignored JARVIS and continued to snuffle. He licked a long stripe up Clint’s neck, and the alpha groaned. 

“Mister Barton,” JARVIS chided. “The Avengers are in need of your assistance for an urgent matter.” 

“Is it a little urgent or like urgent urgent?” Clint said. 

“Sir wishes me to tell you to ‘get your ass up here and no sex in the training areas.” 

Bucky snorted and looked accusingly at the ceiling. Who said anything about sex? He just wanted to rub his body all over Clint’s body until they smelled like each other and everyone would know Bucky had staked a claim, and, well, maybe sex, too. He hadn’t thought that far ahead. 

Clint mumbled something about Hydra being cockblocking assholes. He scratched Bucky’s jowls with two hands. “Sorry, babe. I hate it, but I have to go.” 

Bucky huffed and made little grumbling noises; he knew Clint had responsibilities, but the idea of letting the alpha go was physically painful. Still, he stepped back and let Clint stand up. 

“JARVIS, will you call a car to take Bucky home? Make Tony pay for it.” 

“Of course, sir.” 

“This was so much fun,” Clint said, as he scratched the thick fur on Bucky’s neck. “I’ll see you soon.” 

\----

“I heard you met your two wove,” Tony said when Clint entered the conference room. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Clint said, too happy to pretend otherwise. “And you bozos are making me miss out on some primo make out time.” 

“Bozos?” Tony put his hand on his chest in mock affront. “ _We’re_ not the ones who thrilled audiences with sparkly spandex.” 

“You’d kill to see my sparkly spandex.” 

“Children,” Sam said. God, Clint hated that voice. Sam and Steve wielded it equally well. “We have a mission to plan and we need to be wheels up in twenty.” 

Natasha sat in the corner, listening but not weighing in. She was usually quiet, but especially so around Tony. He had forgiven her for killing his parents, once he found out what had been done to her, but things were still strained between them. 

Steve pulled up the specs of what looked like an abandoned paper mill. “This location has been under surveillance ever since anti-wolf sentiment increased in Eastern Oregon. The plant shut down several years ago, and people blame the EPA and wolf protections for the decline of the lumber industry. There’s basically no other work besides raising cattle, and the ranchers already hated wolves.”

“Nevermind that it was actually excessive logging that fucked everything up,” Tony said. Clint high fived him, sometimes it was nice to have human allies that got it. 

Steve nodded but didn’t join in. The situation must be bad if Steve resisted starting a rant about the environment. He switched to an aerial shot with heat signatures. Large numbers of people were coming and going from the mill at all hours. 

“We think Hydra has used the anti-wolf sentiment to get people to form an independent militia specifically to attack the werewolf population.” 

Tony scratched his goatee idly. “So some hicks got ahold of big guns. Aren’t there superheroes out there that can handle this?” 

Sam cleared his throat, frustration obvious in his flared nostrils. Now that Clint was looking closely, he noticed that Sam looked worn thin, like he needed a nap, not another assignment. “As I’ve told you before, vigilante wolf or human activity only inflames the situation. The Avengers are the only—” 

“Government sanctioned blah, blah,” Tony said, but there was a hint of an apology to his voice. He knew as well as Sam about how delicate politics of wolf-human politics were. 

“Now,” Steve said wearily. “Independent militias are not illegal, because democracy is broken and everything is terrible.” 

“Steve,” Sam said. 

“Sorry, got distracted. If we can prove the weapons are supplied by Hydra that will help us suss out their game plan. More importantly, there’s chatter that the militia will attack a wolf settlement in the Eagle Mountains tomorrow morning.” 

Steve quickly outlined the mission. Both he and Sam were both brilliant strategists, but Sam had to spend a lot of his time sharing his charming, gap-toothed smile with the media and politicians to drum up good will for the Avengers. It was too much for one person to do, so Sam trained Steve in logistics, and Steve stepped up to co-lead the team. 

The plan was that Tony hack the militia’s system from the jet and have his Ironman suit on standby. Clint and Natasha would infiltrate the mill and attempt to gather data, with Sam prepped to create a diversion if things went south. 

“You know, Cap,” Tony said. “Those militia type people aren’t too fond of black people.” 

Sam groaned. “Thanks, Tony. Remind me again how racism works.” 

“I’m just saying, there are a surprising number of KKK members in Oregon, and some of them would take particular pleasure in killing a black Captain America.” 

“What’s your point, Stark?” Steve said. And, oh, it was a bad sign when Steve switched to last names. 

“That we could use some back up? Where’s Thor or Brucie-bear? I’ve got a lead on a spider kid, not literal spiders, like werewolves are wolves, because that would be terrifying. Anyway, he seems pretty capable.” 

“No kids,” Clint said. Usually, he preferred to stay out of the team debates, but he had to draw the line on this one. 

“He’s not, like, eight, Robin Hood. He’s sixteen.” 

“No kids,” Natasha seconded. 

“Thor is off world,” Sam said, “and Bruce is too much of a liability for this type of operation. I agree that it’s bad timing, but—” 

“We need more people, Cap!” 

“Who?” Sam yelled. “I’m not exactly turning people away here, Tony, so unless you have a solution, shut the hell up so we can finish this meeting.” 

There was silence in the room for a good thirty seconds before Tony piped up. “I made Pepper a flight suit. She’d probably help out.” 

“Yeah?” Sam said, sounding both worn out and hopeful. “Next time lead with that.” 

——

Sam settled in his seat on the quinjet and locked his seatbelt. He missed the days when he was just the Falcon; that had been more than enough work. He’d had time to be lighthearted with Steve, and if they got caught making out in an alley, nobody took it seriously. Since becoming Captain America, his every move was scrutinized by the press, and he had to try to be the larger than life figure people needed. He could do it, but it was suffocating. 

“What are you thinking about?” Clint asked as they sat side by side on the jet. “You have your serious face on. Like you’re about to tell someone off for being rude to their waitstaff. Are you mad at Tony? If you two get into a fight can I watch?” 

“It’s nothing.” 

Clint’s easy smile faltered. “Oh, okay. Yeah, you probably got other people to talk to.” 

Sam winced. Clint was a good guy, fun to be around, great with a weapon, and loyal as hell, but he was also a bit of a goof. “It’s nothing personal, man,” Sam said. “Just trying to work some things out.” 

Clint forced a smile, and it looked all wrong on him. Fuck, Sam hadn’t meant to hurt him. 

“Tell me about your date,” Sam said. 

Clint’s face brightened immediately. “Oh man, you were so wrong. That should have been the first thing I said when I saw you!” 

“Uh, good to know.” 

Clint leaned back and sighed happily. “We played laser tag. Bucky’s a good shot, too. I mean, he’s never fired a real weapon, but still. He’s perfect. I’m teaching him to shoot arrows, and he’s getting pretty good at it.” 

Sam raised an eyebrow. “How’d you manage all that in one date?” 

“Dates, Sam. We’ve been seeing each other for three weeks. Did you…” Clint’s voice faded away. Shit. Three weeks. That meant Sam and Steve hadn’t gone on a date in over a month. That’s what he gets for marrying another self-sacrificing, patriotic asshole. Now that he thought about it, Steve did seem tired lately, and Sam couldn’t remember the last time they took a weekend off. 

“You’re getting broody again,” Clint said. “Usually Steve’s the broody one. This isn’t…it’s not that you don’t approve of me for Bucky, right?” 

Sam’s head snapped up. “Of course not! You’re a good guy, Clint. Bucky is lucky to date you.” 

Clint narrowed his eyes and leaned over until he and Sam were almost nose to nose. 

“What are you doing?” Sam said. 

“Trying to read your mind so you’ll stop being sad Cap.” 

“That’s not going to work.” 

“Exactly,” Clint leaned back and grinned triumphantly. “I guess you’re just going to have to tell me what’s bothering you.” 

Sam cracked a grin; Clint was sneaky as hell. “Fine. I’m just feeling stretched thin,” he said. “Things with Hydra…it’s going to get bad, Clint. And I don’t think I’ll be enough.” 

Clint laughed, back to his loose-limbed self. “Of course you won’t be enough.” 

“Well fuck you very much. You’re supposed to tell me if I try hard enough, we’ll succeed.” 

“Nah,” Clint said, slouching down in his seat. “Your problem has never been not trying.” 

“What is it?” 

“Asking for help.” 

The man had a point, but Sam wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of admitting it. Clint must have known it anyway, because he grinned and closed his eyes for the rest of the flight. 

\--

Everything was going according to plan. Natasha and Clint had infiltrated the facility without incident while Tony worked on the quinjet, and Sam and Pepper kept watch. 

“Sitrep, Hawkeye,” Sam said through the comms. Clint was a little late on his check in, but that was to be expected during stealth operations. 

“Entering some kind of command center,” Clint whispered. 

Sam heard some shuffle noises. Damn, but he hated not being in the thick of things, especially when his team was in danger. 

“Cap, we need--” Clint’s words were cut off by Natasha’s scream--heartbroken and animal. 

Sam left his lookout immediately. “Pepper, Tony, make some noise big enough to distract everyone. I’m going in.” 

Natasha’s screaming didn’t start, desperate and rageful in turns and punctuated by the sounds of breaking glass and metal hitting metal. Sam could hear Clint’s voice in the gaps, low, soothing tones. Pleading. 

“JARVIS, filter out Natasha’s comms,” Sam said. The intensity of sound lessened only heard through Clint’s comm unit. 

“Hawkeye, what’s your position?” 

Clint ignored him, still trying to talk Natasha down. There were crashing sounds in the background. 

“Goddammit, Clint, what’s your position? I’m coming to help!” 

“No,” Clint said urgently. “That’ll. Don’t come in this room. There are militia members outside the door, clear them out if you can, but don’t come in this room.” 

Sam heard Natasha’s roar and then silence. Clint must have turned his comm off. Sam was going to kick his ass if Natasha didn’t kill him first. 

\------

“What are you doing?” Becca said from her perch on Bucky’s bed.

Bucky had gathered several blankets and was painstakingly laying out a quilt on the floor of his walk in closet. Next, he took his favorite sheepskin blanket out and smoothed it out on top of the quilt to make a soft, spongy surface. No, he decided, that wasn’t right. The sheepskin blanket should go on top cocooning him in warmth. He needed more blankets for the base.

"Earth to Bucky," Becca said. 

Bucky’s head whipped up. He’d forgotten that she was there. Becca sounded amused, but he was too concentrated on his nest to be offended. “Hand me the pillow behind you. No, the comforter then the pillow. Wait, just give them both to me at the same time and I’ll decide which one goes in first."

Becca dutifully balled up the blanket and tossed over the pillows. "Are you going into heat? Because you know it is super weird of you to ask your sister to help you prepare your nest." 

Bucky couldn’t summon a scowl, he was too busy trying to decide whether his pillows were perfectly fluffy or _too_ fluffy.

“I’m not going into heat. And Mom would say—” 

Becca groaned, cutting him off. She did a high pitched imitation of their mother, “The assembling of an omega’s nest is a pack activity going back to goddess of blah blah."

Although she grumbled while she did it, Becca fetched a chenille blanket from the living room and a few throw pillows. She grabbed a couple of blankets from the top shelf of Bucky’s closet that was too high for him to reach without a chair. 

Despite being twins, Becca had a good six inches on Bucky. She had broad shoulders, thickly muscled thighs, and dark brown wavy hair. Needless to say, she constantly had betas, omegas, and sometimes even alphas throwing themselves at her. She was always trying to lose the pudge around her stomach, but Bucky liked that it softened all her hard lines and made her nice to snuggle with. 

Once Bucky had everything assembled to his liking, he crawled in and wrapped himself up like a burrito. It was one of the more ridiculous things omegas did, but he knew if he ignored his instincts, the impulse would bother him like an itch he couldn’t reach.

Becca sat down just outside the closet. "Are you going to tell me what’s going on?"

“Nothing," Bucky said. “I just wanted a nest. It’s not a big deal. Come cuddle.” 

"Nope. Your scent is making me want to patrol the perimeter, so this is the best you’re going to get unless you tell me what’s wrong." She pulled out her phone and started playing a game, clearly willing to wait Bucky out.

"Clint’s on a mission," Bucky mumbled. 

Beca grinned all overbearing alpha excitement and immediately put her phone down. "And you miss him?"

Bucky groaned. "This is why I didn’t want to talk about it with you! You get all intense with some alpha glint in your eyes like you’re happy for me but also want to murder him." He rolled over and pulled another blanket on top of himself. “And I don’t miss him. I’m just a little worried.”

"Mm-hmm." Becca grinned, showing all her teeth. Alphas were so dumb sometimes. She probably wanted to challenge Clint to hand to hand combat to make sure he was worthy of her brother.

“It’s dumb,” Bucky whined. “It’s so dumb. We’ve been on three dates, and he’s a badass superhero, he’ll be fine, but somehow I just want to cover him in bubble wrap." The truth was he had woken up early in the morning in a panic and had fretted all day, until finally asking Becca to come over and help him with a nest.

"He gets hurt all the time, Becs! Some random mafia member will be extorting someone for money or looking at a girl the wrong way, and then Clint fights him without backup and of course, the bad guy has buddies so--” 

“It's sweet," Becca said, interrupting Bucky again. He’s not sure if she does it because she’s a bossy alpha or because he tends to ramble when he’s nervous. “You liiiike him." 

"I do not like him. I mean, I do like him, but it’s too soon for strong feelings. But my stupid brain hasn’t gotten the memo and this," he waves his blanketed arms around, “happened." 

Becca looked unsurprised. "Could be a true mate sign.” 

“Don’t say that,” Bucky groaned. He was ignoring the whole mate concept and pretending that Clint was just a hot guy that he wanted to climb like a tree. “That’s too much pressure. Now, are you coming in or not?” 

Becca wrinkled her nose. “Sorry, little bro. I’ll keep watch though.”

“I’m five minutes younger than you!” 

“Still younger,” Becca said with a grin. 

Before they could get too far into their debate, someone knocked at the door. 

“Thai food to the rescue!” Becca said. Leaving Bucky behind, she answered the door and immediately began growling. “Who are you?” she barked. 

“Uh, I’m here to see Bucky,” Clint said. 

Bucky rolled out of his blankets and ran to the door. “Clint,” he said, hopping up and throwing his arms around Clint’s shoulders. “You’re here.” 

“Yeah,” Clint said. He encircled Bucky with his arms and breathed in his scent. “But I think your sister might kill me.”

Bucky sighed. “Stop snarling!” he said to Becca over his shoulder. 

Becca protested, “A giant alpha wants in, and you expect me to—” 

“You’re a giant alpha, too!” Not as big as Clint, but still. 

“Listen, my omega brother is nesting and vulnerable, and I’m not going to let anything happen to him.” 

“Nesting?” Clint cut in. He picked up two pizza boxes from the ground. Bucky had been so concentrated on getting to Clint he hadn’t even noticed. 

Clint seemed unperturbed by Becca’s posturing, but he did curl his body around the pizza protectively. Of course, Clint would care more about keeping his pizza safe than his body. 

Becca finally relented and let Clint in. Admittedly, Clint did cut an imposing figure, still in his battle gear and his bow strapped to his back. He must have come straight from his mission. Bucky took the pizza from him and handed it to Becca so he could check Clint for injuries. 

“What are you doing?” 

Bucky patted his chest, down his sides, watching for any wincing or signs of dry blood. Clint seemed okay, filthy and crusted in mud, but otherwise unharmed. 

“I was worried,” Bucky murmured. 

“He was _weird_ worried,” Becca called out. Apparently, the pizza had appeased her, because she was already halfway through his first slice. “All the blankets are in this giant pile in the closet, and—” 

Bucky cleared his throat meaningfully, and Becca shrugged. When Bucky turned to Clint, the alpha smiled softly. “You thought about me?” 

Bucky slipped his arms around Clint’s waist again and pulled him close. God, but Clint smelled good. Sweat and musk, and it should have been gross, but damn Bucky just wanted to stick his nose in Clint’s armpit and inhale. 

“Buck,” Clint said gently. Bucky realized belatedly that he had been groaning and rubbing his face against Clint’s chest. The fabric was stiff and uncomfortable, but it smelled so good. “You sister is here. I think she’s turning green.” 

Bucky hopped back from Clint like he’d been scalded. “Right, of course. I don’t know what’s come over me.” 

There was another knock at the door, and Becca opened it and brought in their Thai food. She arranged all the food on the coffee table in the living room and handed out plates. Clint grabbed two pieces of pizza, scooped some Pad Thai on top, and shoveled a big bite into his mouth. 

Becca made a face at Bucky and whispered, “This is the guy?” 

Bucky shrugged. Clint was a guy, a guy that Bucky liked a lot, but he wasn’t sure if he was _the_ guy. 

“So,” Becca said, “I feel this is a good time to share some embarrassing things about Bucky.” 

“Don’t.” Bucky pointed at her. 

“Bucky slept with a blanket until he was twelve,” Becca said to Clint. “Would you like some water?” 

“Mom said—“ 

“You’re going to pull her out anytime you need someone to defend you?” She looked at Clint again, clearly enjoying torturing Bucky. “Sorry, I missed your answer on the water.” 

“Uh, yes,” Clint said. 

Becca walked to the kitchen but called over her shoulder, “He still calls our parents twice a week.” 

“Nothing wrong with loving your parents,” Bucky mumbled. Maybe it was silly to call them so much, but Bucky missed them. 

When Becca came back, Clint accepted the glass of water and drank it all in one go. 

“It’s nice that you two have each other,” he said. “Do your parents come to visit often?” 

Becca screwed up her nose in surprise and leaned back in the armchair. “Our parents are betas; they aren’t allowed to enter other packs. Only reason I’m allowed to be here is because everybody wants unmated omegas, so they can go wherever they want, and Bucky is allowed to have a family member chaperone. Not that he ever lets me chaperone him.” 

“I am not a child,” Bucky said. He liked bantering with Becca, but today his heart wasn’t in it. “Did you not know about the travel restrictions?” he said to Clint. 

Clint glanced at Bucky and then back at his pizza. “Never thought of it,” he murmured. “Don’t really have family, and the Avengers...We must be an exception.” 

Bucky squeezed Clint’s knee, and the alpha smiled back, small and distant. Something was wrong with him. At first, Bucky thought it might be a physical injury, but as Clint stared blankly ahead with none of his goofy charm or easy smiles, he realized something serious must have happened. 

“Hey Becs,” he said. “Don’t you need to meet some friends tonight?” 

“Nah.” She picked up another piece of pizza and took a large bite. “Tonight is brother-sister bonding time,” she said around a mouthful of food. 

“I mean,” Bucky made eye contact and nodded his head toward Clint. “Don’t you have things to do. Not here. Things to do in other places.” 

Becca looked between Clint and Bucky. Clint, who had either zoned out or fallen asleep with his eyes open. “Oh. Okay, you could have just asked me to leave.” She gathered her stuff and grumbled, “I can’t read your damn omega mind.” 

Clint snorted. Apparently, he had been listening after all. Bucky handed Becca her jacket and hurried her to the door muttering about how alphas were as subtle as a bull in a china shop and couldn't take a hint sometimes. 

“Love you, too,” Becca said, rolling her eyes. “Behave yourself while I’m gone.” 

Bucky closed the door, not bothering to answer. She was his twin, not his mother or guardian. 

Bucky sat down beside Clint so their thighs were touching. “You wanna tell me what's going on?” 

Clint shrugged, gaze still distant, and Bucky decided talking wasn’t for the best idea right now. 

“How about you take a quick shower and join me in my nest?” 

Clint looked over slowly. “Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” Truthfully, Bucky liked the smell of Clint’s sweat, all musk and muscle. It made him want to roll over and submit. But there were also hints of smoke and gunpowder, and that couldn’t be helping Clint orient to his current surroundings. 

Bucky knelt on the floor and began untying Clint’s boots. 

“You don’t…” Clint said. “I can do it.” 

“I know.” Bucky eased his first boot off and pulled down Clint’s sock. He started in on the other boot. No blood on them, thank god. Just dirt and ash. “I want to.” 

Once Clint’s boots were off, Bucky led him to the bathroom and gave him a fresh towel. His beauty products were mostly neutral scents because of his job--Leticia didn’t like strong scents--but Clint likely wouldn’t mind one way or the other. He probably washed his whole body and shampooed his hair with a bar of soap. Bucky would have to introduce him to conditioner one of these days. 

“The knob in the shower is backward,” Bucky said, suddenly aware that the big alpha was about to be naked in his apartment. “So, uh hot means cold and cold means hot.” 

Clint nodded. He seemed smaller than usual, crumpled. “I’ll just be--” 

“Take all the time you need,” Bucky said. When Clint didn’t move, Bucky decided to make things easier for him. He turned on the shower and set it to hot. Then, telegraphing his movements, he opened the hook and loop enclosures on Clint’s fingerless gloves and pulled them off. He helped Clint unzip his uniform and pull it off his body. Once Clint was down to his boxers, Bucky said, “I’ll just leave you to it.” 

Clint held out his arms, and Bucky rushed forward. The sweat on Clint’s body made his skin tacky, but Bucky pressed against him. Clint nosed down Bucky’s neck until he got to his scent glands, inhaling big lungfuls, his body relaxing with each breath. 

It was heady, being this close, and Bucky could feel his cock begin to firm in spite of his best intentions. 

“Sorry,” Bucky said as he stepped away. He gestured at his crotch. “Sometimes it has a mind of its own.” 

Clint smiled, the first time since he’d arrived, and Bucky felt a warm whoosh of relief. “It’s a compliment, right?” 

Bucky backed out of the room, wanting to look at Clint as long as possible before closing the door. “I’ll find you something to wear.” 

Once he was out of the bathroom, Bucky stood a minute to get his bearings. He heard Clint step into the shower followed by a yelp a few moments later. 

“Knobs are backward, remember?” 

Bucky didn’t have clothes that were Clint’s size, and he wasn’t one to keep things from exes. All he had was an old t-shirt of Becca’s, and Bucky’s largest pajama bottoms. That would have to do. 

After he left the clothes on the sink in the bathroom, and studiously did not look at Clint through the frosted glass, Bucky went about perfecting his nest. It was missing something, he wasn’t sure what. He thought about asking Clint for a shirt or an item with his scent, but nixed the idea immediately. It was too soon. 

He puttered about before realizing that he was working himself up into a tizzy and he’d be no help to Clint like that. Giving up on fighting instinct, Bucky crawled into his nest and snuggled down into the blankets. 

Clint took a long shower, long enough that Bucky began to worry that the alpha had fallen asleep. But he heard muffled curses after ten minutes right around the time the hot water usually gave out. 

Bucky wished he could help Clint dry off, gently press the towel to the bruises on his face. There was a rustling noise as Clint put on the clothes Bucky had left out for him. 

“Uh, Bucky?” he called out. 

Bucky exited his nest and discovered Clint looking like a golden retriever wearing a chihuahua sweater. The shirt, although it was Becca’s, stretched obscenely over Clint’s shoulders and rode up at the waist. Clint’s thighs stretched the fabric of Bucky’s pajama bottoms warningly and the pants ended just below his knees. 

“Maybe I could just borrow some boxers?” 

Bucky flushed hot at the thought of Clint wearing his underwear and dug out a pair of black boxer briefs. Hopefully, they would work. Clint went back into the bathroom and emerged a minute later looking more comfortable and too sexy for their situation. It was even worse than before, because Bucky’s boxers were for omegas and did a poor job concealing Clint’s alpha cock. 

“Uh.” Bucky closed his eyes to fight the wave of lust. Apparently, Clint didn’t mind because he stepped forward and wrapped his warm arounds around him. “I’m sorry.” 

“I don’t mind,” Clint said into Bucky’s hair. “I like it when you look at me.” 

“I’m salivating,” Bucky said. “Is that normal?” 

Clint shrugged. “Who cares about normal?”

Bucky pulled back and took Clint’s hand. “Come on, nest time.” 

Bucky wrapped Clint in his favorite white faux sheepskin blanket. He bundled him up and arranged him in the nest. Clint must have had experience with omegas because he patiently waited until Bucky was satisfied that things were just so before laying down on Bucky’s chest. The nest was illuminated by only a soft sliver of light through the door. 

They lay in the dark together matching their breaths. Bucky carded his fingers through Clint’s sandy blonde hair. Even in the dim light, he could trace the proud ridge of Clint’s eyebrows, creases around his mouth from his perpetual grins. He ran a finger down Clint’s cheek, stroking the stubble and feeling the roughness scratch against his skin. He continued his gentle ministrations tracing the line of Clint’s nose, across the lushness of his lips. 

Clint’s body relaxed by degrees and he tilted his chin up so Bucky could run fingers down his neck across his ridged scent glands. 

“It was awful,” Clint whispered. “They had a huge weapons cache and all these pictures and plans of what they wanted to do, what they had been doing.” He shuddered, and Bucky squeezed him. 

“It’s…genocide. No protecting the pups or older wolves or anything. Just wiping us out.” Clint sniffled and Bucky felt Clint’s tears against his chest. “Tasha went wild with rage. I’ve never seen her like that before. One minute we’re gathering intel, and the next she’s ripping their plans up with her teeth, screaming and clawing at the walls. I won’t use my alpha voice on her, not ever, so I had to talk her down. For a moment, I thought she was going to kill me.” 

“Anyway, we planted explosives, couldn’t make it look like wolves had done all that damage, and turned over all the evidence over to the FBI.”

“Where’s Natasha now?” Bucky said. He hated to think of her out there alone and distressed. 

“She fell asleep on the ride home and ran off as soon as the quinjet landed,” Clint said, sounding exhausted. “I wasn’t in a place to stop her.” 

Bucky squeezed Clint. “Can I say something you might not like?” 

“As long as you aren’t leaving me for Cap.” 

Bucky cupped Clint’s cheek with his palm. “Of course not. Why would--” 

“It’s nothing.” Clint kissed the palm of Bucky’s hand and snuggled closer again. 

Bucky decided now was not the time to tackle that particular problem. “I don’t think running missions is good for Natasha. She’s been through so much trauma, she needs to build a home and rest now.” 

Clint sighed. “I think so, too,” he said. “But Buck, we’re so short staffed. Sam and Steve look like they’re ready to drop. And--” 

“There has to be another solution.” 

“I can handle it,” Natasha said. Bucky and Clint yelped and tumbled in a pile of blankets as they tried to right themselves. Clint ended up on his back with a pile of blankets over his face. 

“What the hell?” Clint said as he tried to get free. 

“Nat?” Bucky said. He stood up unsteadily. “You scared the shit out of me. How did you? I didn’t even hear you knock.” 

Natasha looked at the ground, and Bucky understood immediately, she hadn’t knocked, had just made her way into his apartment. “I can go,” she said. 

“No, no,” of course not,” Bucky said. “Just, hold up, everybody out for a second so I can make room.” Clint left the nest and stood by Natasha who didn’t touch him but edged close enough to share body heat. 

“Have you eaten?” Clint said quietly. 

Natasha nodded. Like Clint, she seemed smaller than usual, bent over and trembling. 

Bucky walked over to her and held open his arms, but she shied away from the contact. Oh shit. Bucky didn’t know if he’d be able to take care of two traumatized wolves at the same time. 

“Do you need to shower?” he said. 

Natasha huffed, the corner of her mouth quirking up. Somehow it only made her look sadder. “Unlike this one,” she inclined her head toward Clint, “I don’t need to be reminded to bathe.” 

“Hey,” Clint said, voice soft but teasing, “that was one time.” 

“One time per week,” Natasha said. 

They fell to gentle squabbling, and it reminded Bucky so much of his relationship with his sister he wished for a second that he had not sent her away. But, no, now was not the time to introduce new wolves. 

“Anybody need snacks or hot cocoa?” 

Clint yawned and scratched his stomach. “I could go for another slice of pizza.” 

Bucky and Natasha shared a knowing look. Clint saw it and shrugged unrepentantly. 

“Go eat, and Nat and I will rebuild the nest.” 

Clint ambled off, already looking miles more relaxed than when he arrived. Meanwhile, Natasha and Bucky rearranged blankets. 

It was wonderful to build a nest with another omega. Bucky had done it a few times in college, and it always felt like a spiritual experience to work together, like the omegas of old preparing nests for the first werewolves. It was the same with Natasha. She intuitively knew how to arrange the space, and they worked alongside one another harmoniously. 

“Have you ever thought of stepping back from the Avengers?” Bucky said quietly, so Clint wouldn’t overhear. “You could still help, but maybe there are other things you could do besides fighting.” 

Natasha finished a corner of the nest and laid down with her back along the wall. “Can we… I’m tired.” 

“Of course,” Bucky said, feeling a cold prickle of guilt. Maybe now was not the time. “You rest. I’ll pull Clint away from the pizza.” 

Natasha covered herself with a blanket and smiled tiredly. “Good luck.” 

\--

Once Clint was done eating, he and Bucky returned to the nest. Clint had laid down on one side of the closet and Bucky slipped into the middle. He rearranged Clint until the alpha was on his side, covered in blankets, and his head resting on Bucky’s chest. 

“I’m going to crush you in your sleep,” Clint said muzzily, already relaxing. 

Natasha waited until they stopped moving and then reached out her leg so that her foot was touching Bucky’s foot but nowhere else. She settled down with that one point of contact.

Clint smiled at them both. “I don’t wanna think about the mission anymore. Bucky, tell us a story.” 

“A long one or a short one?” 

“Long one,” Natasha said muzzily. 

Bucky smiled at her and held Clint’s hand. “This one dates back to 700 BC, but it may be older than that; scholars aren’t really sure. 

In the time of the way back, before Olineo walked on the earth with his three clomping paws, before Heptamen caused the wolves to stand on two legs with teeth long and sharp, or Thetal gave wolves the faces of men; the great nameless wolf Godx, twin sibling of the sun, god of mystery and darkness, descended from the stars and wandered over the unformed earth.

They raced, jumping and running through the nine lands. Where their paws struck, the earth shook, mountains sprang up and great canyons formed. In the trail of their feet, rivers formed, and in the holes they dug, deep lakes came to life, crystal blue as deep as the eye could see. 

From the rivers and mountains and deep, dark canyons, life crawled forth, beautiful and terrible in turn, and the Godx loved all of it. They danced through the fields of yellow and green grass, leapt across canyons, chased mighty elk up the mountainside. And at last, when they tired, they lay upon the forest floor, head on the cool, soft moss, and fell to sleep. 

From their dreams, three creatures were born. Wolves, like the great Godx, twin sibling of the sun, god of mystery and darkness. Each wolf reflects part of Godx, for no one creature could contain their mystery. The alpha stood tallest, brave but eager to dominate. The beta yielded to the alpha, neck bared, peace loving and patient. Last to be born was the omega, brilliant and made to lead. 

But the omega grew haughty and imagined herself the superior wolf. And so the great Godx, mysterious beyond all imaging, awoke. They gifted the omega with heat so that every three months she would be reminded of what it felt to need others to mate and bring her food, that from weakness, new life was born. This vulnerability tempered her brilliance to wisdom, her leadership with love and allowed her to balance alpha thirst for war and beta desire for peace.

And that is why to this day, omegas bear the burden of heat. Not as a punishment, but a gift from the nameless Godx to remind us to protect the weak and powerless.” 

“I’ve never heard that one,” Clint murmured against Bucky’s chest. 

“Most of the myth around omegas is no longer shared at pack gatherings,” Bucky said. “But my mom loves the old stories. They’re not so…alpha-centric.” 

“Mmm-hmm. I’m going to fall asleep,” Clint said. 

“Fall asleep then,” he said, trying to make it sound like a question to give Clint space to say no. “I’ll make you guys coffee and pancakes in the morning.” Taking care of Clint and Natasha felt good. It resonated deep in his bones, tripped along the knobs of his spine and echoed in his organs.

Clint yawned and pulled their bodies flush against one another, head to toes. “You don’t gotta sell it to me,” he said. “Course I’ll stay.” 

Natasha didn’t say anything; she was asleep already. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it got a little serious there at the end. We will get back to fluff eventually. :) 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How did you know I was here?” Clint said. 
> 
> Bucky pulled Clint into a hug and pressed and snuffled his chest. “No idea. Just had a feeling.” 
> 
> Clint squeezed Bucky's slender shoulders. They were so in sync, they finished each other's--
> 
> “Pizza?” Bucky said. “Your stomach is growling.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is late. I decided to change a couple of things around, and it took longer than I expected to fix it. Big thanks to @katAtomic2 for letting me bounce a truckload of ideas off her and lilyinthesnow for the beta assist. 
> 
> cw for come marking, just so much come. I just added the tag, but wanted to give a heads up to everyone. 
> 
> Thank you for all the kind, lovely comments. Makes these hard times a little brighter. :)

Natasha had gotten used to falling asleep to the sounds of gunfire. Like the other wolves, she rolled bundled up pieces of wax and paper in her ears at night to lessen the bite of explosive sounds. Tonight she laid in her bunk in the army nurses’ unit, curled tightly in on herself, and pulled her wool blanket, stiff with grit, around her shoulders. 

She would have been warmer in her wolf form, but shifting was outlawed in integrated human/wolf units, and having integrated units was the only thing that kept the humans from using wolves as cannon fodder. 

A hand shook Natasha’s shoulder roughly. “Get up. We’re under attack!” Dot said. 

“We’re always under attack,” Natasha mumbled as she pulled her earplugs out. She ran a cold hand across her face and a fleck of dried blood fell like a late autumn leaf to her lap. 

“They’ve breached the perimeter,” Dot said. “Casualties coming in.” 

Casualties. Dot left, and Natasha sprang into action, pulling off her sleep shirt and slipping into her stained wool nurse uniform over her stockings. Her cold fingers were clumsy with the buttons on her dress and the scuffed buckles on her shoes. She pulled on a thick black jacket and hurried to the medical tent. 

She was used to blood, to limbs torn off, or bones broken. But her wolf hated the metallic burn of gunpowder and acidic tang of antiseptic. She steadied herself inside the tent, adjusting to the onslaught of activity. Soldiers were being carried in faster than they could care for them. Some of them wailing, mindless in their pain. The wolf soldiers reached out for her almost as one; her omega scent smelled like comfort to them, it dampened their pain. 

Natasha fell to bandaging, cleaning out wounds as best she could and following the triage nurse’s instructions. Their doctor had been killed a few days ago, and the medical unit had limped on with whatever resources they had left. 

The gunfire got louder until it seemed to be in the very tent with them, but the nurses held steady. An alpha burst into the tent and looked around wildly until his eyes landed on Natasha. His name was Gabe; they were both part of the New York pack and had known each other since they were children. 

Gabe’s shirt was torn, and there was heavy bruising on his face like he’d had to fight hand to hand. “You have to run, Nattie,” he said, grabbing her by her thin shoulders. “They are going to take the camp.” 

Natasha struggled to get free of his hold; the human nurses pointedly ignored them. “I’m not abandoning the pack.” 

Gabe leaned close, and Natasha stilled. They rested their foreheads together, and for a moment all the noise of battle and smell of death and antiseptic faded out. “I promised,” Gabe said. “I told the pack leaders I would keep you safe. Please, Nattie, for me.” 

Natasha shook her head, tears slipping down her numbed cheeks. “I can’t. I won’t.” 

Gabe drew up to his full size, not that much taller than Natasha but thicker and broad. Using his alpha voice, he said, “Omega, run! Hide. I will find you after the battle.” 

Natasha felt like the earth shook beneath her, her feet moving without her consent and her body following. “How dare you!” she spit. 

Gabe made a low wounded noise but held strong. “Please. We can’t fight if we know you’re here. It’s—” 

“I’ll get her somewhere safe,” Dot said. Gabe nodded at her, relief written on his features, and ran out of the tent without looking back. 

As soon as he was gone, Dot grabbed Natasha by the arm and yanked her outside. 

“Why are you doing this?” Natasha said. Fighting off the alpha voice made her feel wobbly like a fawn, and she stumbled along behind Dot. 

Dot gentled her grip. “You’re our omega. The pack must keep you safe.” Dot found shelter behind a tree and hastily began undressing Natasha. “You will shift, and then you will run away as fast as you can.” The buttons on Natasha’s front stuck, and Dot ripped the dress open. A bullet whizzed by them, and Dot went to her knees to yank off Natasha’s stockings and shoes. 

“Shift!” 

Although Dot was not an alpha, Natasha felt compelled to obey. She crouched down and shifted into her wolf form, white fur, black-lined eyes, and small ears with a rounded tip. Dot stroked her shaking hand through Natasha’s fur. “Run,” she whispered. And then yelling, “Run!” 

Natasha stared at her for a long moment and then took off. 

Toward the fighting. 

Dot lunged, but it was too late. Her screams faded into the background as Natasha charged onto the battlefield. This was her pack; they were hers to protect. 

\---

Natasha had been tireless in her surveillance of Clint and Bucky these last two months, and things appeared to be going well between them. They had gone on several more dates, despite Clint having to cancel frequently for last-minute Avenger’s missions. Bucky always had work for graduate school to complete, so he had been unperturbed by the changes. Unfortunately, the Avengers schedule had kept them apart for the last two weeks. 

No sexual congress yet, which was odd given their true mate status. In Natasha’s day, true mates were bonded immediately to great fanfare. Perhaps things were different nowadays. Natasha would have to do some research. She had been under the impression that modern wolves slept together readily, but perhaps she had misunderstood. 

She had stopped by Bucky’s two more times to update his security. The first time, he claimed she “scared him to death,” but Natasha didn’t take that seriously. No one could get so scared they died, or she would have died already. 

Bucky had not liked it when she told him this, and a worry wrinkle formed between his eyebrows. He had immediately insisted on wrapping her in a soft blanket and making her sip hot chocolate. It was… nice. She missed having soft blankets and a proper nest. 

Natasha paid for her lodgings month by month in various hovels that she never stayed in for long. They were shabby places where no one would expect an Avenger and ex-Hydra operative to live. Poor plumbing, drafts, not suitable for a nest. 

Natasha longed for comfort and softness, but that was a distraction. Her current missions were to a) complete whatever tasks were assigned to her by Captain America in order to reduce the red in her ledger and b) assist Clint in his wooing of Bucky. The second required more work than the first. 

—

Natasha and Clint were sparring in the gym when she found the right opportunity to gather more intel. She wrapped her thighs around Clint and slammed him to the ground. While she held him, maybe a little tighter than necessary, she asked, “Why have you and Bucky not cemented your bond by having sexual congress?” 

Clint wheezed, perhaps she was cutting off too much air and that would go against her goal of getting answers out of him. She relaxed minutely. Clint used it as an opportunity to try to get free. She tightened again. 

“I was led to believe that people nowadays initiated sexual contact very early in the relationship.” 

Clint narrowed his eyes, and a burst of protectiveness showed up in his scent. “Who told you that? Is someone—” 

“Not for me,” Natasha said. She released her hold and rolled to her feet. Clint didn’t move. “That’s… nice of you to worry, but I can take care of myself.” She reached a hand down to him. “Again?” 

Clint groaned. “How many times do you have to kick my ass before your pride is satisfied.” 

Natasha pulled his uncooperative body up. “One more time.” 

“One more.” 

They took their positions. Clint, of course, had height to his advantage, but Natasha had strength and speed. Not that she let him know that. She went to great pains to conceal the effects of the Hydra serum on her by letting Clint win their sparring matches every so often. He wasn’t an idiot, despite appearances to the contrary, and he was her closest ally, but she didn’t want anyone to know the extent of her abilities.

Natasha went on the attack immediately, and Clint danced backward to avoid her lunge. Being in her body like this, training and sparring, was the only time things felt right to her with no worries. 

“You are going on a date with him tonight, yes?” Natasha said. She huffed a little as she talked to give the impression of physical strain. 

“Yes,” Clint said. He didn’t look at her eyes, preferring to watch her hips and shoulders to more accurately anticipate her next move. Fair enough. Natasha could send false signals easily. 

“Perhaps you will have the opportunity to consummate your relationship.” She ducked low and grabbed onto Clint’s shin and flipped him on his back. He rolled into a ball and popped up into a standing position. “You know that he is a handsome omega,” she said. 

Clint rolled his eyes. “Yes. He is very--” 

“And as such, he is sought after by many competitors. The leadership of the New York pack have expressed that if you two choose not to bond, other potential candidates will be put forth.” 

“What?!” 

Natasha seized the moment to barrel into Clint and slam him onto the ground. Sometimes brute force worked best with him. They grappled, each trying to get a hold of the other. For an alpha, Clint was remarkably flexible. And slippery. 

“Why do so many people care about my sex life?” Clint said between gritted teeth. Normally, Natasha would choose this moment to let him up and give the appearance of being more evenly matched, but she had priorities. 

Natasha eyed him critically from above him. For being a formidable enemy and now ally, Clint was surprisingly helpless about certain things. “Not your sex life,” she said. “His. You haven’t even presented him with nesting materials or a freshly caught rabbit. You need to, to…” Every word seemed too crass, and she didn’t know how to convey her urgency. Besides, she liked Bucky, and if he and Clint broke up, she would lose one of her only friends. 

Clint got his legs under her hips and catapulted her a few feet away. He was sweating heavily enough that his shirt stuck to his chest in a v and staggered as he got his bearings. He was exhausted, she realized suddenly. She was so unused to recognizing it in herself that she’d stopped looking for it in others. 

“Maybe I didn’t want to make a move while someone was watching us,” Clint said. 

Natasha faltered in her steps. She hadn’t realized Clint was aware of her surveillance. Was Bucky aware? Civilians rarely took well to that type of thing. 

“Yes, I know about it,” Clint said. 

“Are you saying I’m keeping you from bonding?” Natasha asked, feeling stricken. “I’m trying to help—‘ 

“I think we got to find someone for you,” Clint said. He feinted right and then tried to hook an arm under her leg. If she were feeling generous, Natasha would have let him, so he could spin her around on his shoulders and yell, “helicopter!” 

But today she wasn’t feeling generous. She swung away, taking the moment to step backward out of his grasp. 

“None of your business,” Natasha said. She needed to wrap this interrogation up. Her subject was turning on her. She began to regret taking on her Clint Barton mission. 

Clint stalked forward. “That means there’s someone.” 

“There’s no one.” 

“Tasha.” 

“Clinton.” 

Clint groaned. “I hate that. Come on. Who is it?” 

“I haven’t even met them,” Natasha said. “Now, we need to shower and go to the team meeting.” 

Clint ignored her attempts at distraction. Goddammit. She should have known better than to underestimate him. “If you haven’t met them, then how do you know you like them?” 

Fine. It wouldn’t hurt to give Clint a little information if it ended his line of inquiry. It wasn’t as though she intended to act upon her interest. “I saw her through a… security device.” 

“Where?” 

“At Bucky’s house.” 

Clint clapped his hands together in excitement, looking like a five-year-old pup being given a cupcake. “It’s Becca,” he crowed. “Yes! I’m going to start planning your bonding ceremony immediately. Of course, the colors will be purple and white, because I should get credit for helping you find her.” 

“Shut up, Clint,” Natasha said, walking away while he stood there grinning like the goofball he was. So Bucky’s sister was attractive; there was no need to dwell on it. 

“We’re not done talking about this,” Clint yelled. 

Natasha really, really regretted taking on her Clint Barton mission. 

\---

Clint and Natasha showered and met on the tenth floor of the Tower in a small conference room for a meeting with Tony and Sam. Pepper was running Stark Industries, and Sam hadn’t volunteered Steve’s location. 

Sam identified trends from their previous missions and weak points in their attack strategies. He was right but Clint couldn’t find it in himself to care. They had been going non stop, and they all needed a break. At least Clint did. 

“We’ll meet tomorrow morning for group training exercises and then in the afternoon discuss a potential threat Steve and JARVIS have identified,” Sam said. 

Clint groaned and slouched in his chair. “Noooo. I’m too tired. No morning training. I need to sleep for three days.” All of his good mood from sparring with Natasha evaporated immediately. 

Sam didn’t respond, but the lines around his mouth tightened, and he forged ahead. “Based on that analysis, be prepared for a two-man intel-gathering mission—Hawkeye and Winter Soldier.” 

Clint slithered down until he was lying on the floor underneath the table. “You don’t have to use our code names in the Tower,” he groused. Sure, he was cranky and nitpicking, but they’d also been running missions for two weeks with no breaks. He’d had to settle for video chats with Bucky instead of actual dates, and Clint was not happy about it. 

“And you don’t have to be a child and lay on the floor, but here we are.” 

“I’m worn out, Cap,” Clint said, putting extra salt on Sam’s code name. Why was Tony being quiet, usually the human had his back on this stuff. Clint nudged Tony with his foot, and Tony jolted upright. 

“Wha…?” He leaned under the table and scowled at Clint. “You ruined my nap.” 

Clint held open his arms, and Tony melted in appreciation. If he couldn’t sleep, at least they could cuddle. Tony had initially been confused by how touchy-feely werewolves were, but he not so secretly loved it now. Turns out Tony was a little touched-starved. 

Tony crawled under the table and rested his head on Clint’s stomach. 

“Listen,” Sam said, bravely pretending they were having a normal meeting. “I recognize that we have been working very hard and are stretched past capacity.” 

“We’re a rubber band about to break,” Tony said, and Clint ruffled his hair in agreement. 

“But our missions are important for the safety of wolves and humans alike.” 

Clint rolled his eyes dramatically and Tony rolled his eyes back in agreement. 

“Have we thought about putting an ad in the paper?” Clint said. “Seeking: werewolf or human willing to work stupid long hours. Must have an exaggerated sense of self-importance.” 

“I could bring in Spider kid,” Tony said. 

“No kids,” Natasha said, but it sounded like even she was second-guessing it. 

Sam growled loud enough that Clint and Tony flinched under the table. Natasha didn’t move. She never smelled like fear, instead, her scent went flat almost like she stopped producing pheromones at all. Hell, maybe she could. Hydra had fucked with everything else. 

“Tone it down,” Clint snapped. They needed some betas on the team to cool things down a bit. There had to be people willing to join up. Sure, they hadn’t gotten trained military and intelligence agency folks, but there were probably civilians or other vigilantes who would be willing to help. It wasn’t like Clint had that much special training. 

“Why don’t you bring your insubordinate ass out from under the table and say that to my face?” Sam said. 

Tony’s eyes widened in alarm. But, honestly, Clint wasn’t taking the bait. “Nope. You want to fight, go punch something in the gym.” 

“If you are challenging my leadership—” 

“I don’t want to run the Avengers!” Clint said hysterically. “I want a nap. And pizza. And, a, a—” 

“Vacation,” Tony said. 

“Yeah, that.” 

Sam stood still, and Clint half expected him to explode. Instead, the big alpha sagged, crouched down, and crawled under the table with Clint and Tony. 

Natasha was the only one still seated in a chair, and when she peeked her head under, Tony said, “Get down here, Red Scare.” Months of working together and saving each other’s lives had improved their relationship, although Natasha was still hesitant around him. 

“Don’t call her that,” Clint murmured. 

“Oh. Right. Uh, red?” 

Natasha crawled under the table, not touching any of them, but close enough to be part of the group. This was a terrible excuse for a den—three wolves and a Tony on a hard floor under a particleboard table. 

“I did put out feelers with the Air Force and Army, even asked for liaisons from the FBI and CIA,” Sam said wearily. 

“And?” Clint said. 

“No one believes Hydra is a credible threat,” Natasha said. She rested her head on her knees. Clint didn’t bother asking how she knew; Natasha likely kept surveillance on all of them. “They don’t think Hydra is behind—” 

“All of it. It’s right there in front of their faces, and they don’t see it,” Sam said. 

Tony yawned and snuggled against Clint’s stomach. “I could build some sentient AI fighters. Send them in instead.” 

“That sounds like the first scene of a movie where robots take over the world,” Clint said. 

Tony hummed and didn’t press the issue. “You want to tell us where Steve is, Cap?” 

Clint scratched his fingers in Tony’s hair in thanks. He hadn’t wanted to be the one to bring it up. 

Sam closed his eyes and slouched further. “He passed out. Doc says it’s exhaustion, but with his heart already being weak...” When Sam opened his eyes, they were wet with unshed tears. “Let’s take the weekend off. The end of the world will wait.” 

\--- 

Clint couldn’t stay in the Tower that night. He felt raw all over, and, even if things had ended up alright, he hated fighting with Sam. That was Tony’s job. 

He texted Bucky on his way home. 

**Clint** : Hey babe, home for the weekend and would love to see you

Bucky responded immediately. 

**Bucky** : Yes! I’m done with midterms and wanna sleep for ten hours. Come over for cuddles and pizza? 

Score. Take that other wolves who wanted to mate with Bucky. Clint and Bucky were perfectly matched. 

**Clint** : Yes. Want that 

\--

Clint took the subway to Bucky’s apartment. He was less noticeable than Sam and more skilled at fading into the background. As a result, he was rarely hassled in public. Halfway through his ride, he wished he had taken a motorcycle or one of Tony’s flight suits so that he could be at Bucky’s already. 

When Clint finally arrived at Bucky’s building, Bucky opened the door before Clint had time to knock. 

“How did you know I was here?” Clint said. 

Bucky pulled Clint into a hug and pressed and snuffled his chest. “No idea. Just had a feeling.” 

Clint squeezed Bucky’s slender shoulders. Doubletake that wolves who wanted Bucky. They were so in sync, they finished each other’s...

“Pizza?” Bucky said. “Your stomach is growling.” 

Clint grinned. He kissed Bucky quickly, but it slowly turned into a more languorous exploration of each other's mouths. Prolonged kissing wasn’t typically something werewolves did, but Bucky had developed a taste for it when he dated a human, and Clint was happy to do whatever made him feel good. It was still a little weird though. 

“Come inside,” Bucky said against Clint’s lips. “We’re giving the neighbors a show.” 

Bucky’s apartment was more unkempt than usual, and he had papers and books scattered everywhere and unclean dishes in the sink. Not too bad considering he’d just made it through a week of midterms, and still better than Clint’s apartment at its cleanest. 

Clint plopped down on the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. “Babe, it’s been a hell of a week.” 

Bucky fetched them both glasses of water and sat down on the couch beside him. “You wanna talk about it?” 

“Just got into a fight with Sam. We worked it out, but, I don’t know. It felt gross and now I feel like I need six showers or something.” 

Bucky scooted close enough that their bodies touched. “He’s your pack, and you care about him. It makes sense that you feel gross. I hate fighting with Becca.” 

Clint slouched down further. Just talking about it made a heavy weight settle on his chest. “He’s trying so hard, but he just doesn’t know when to stop. And he’s going to… I don’t know, drag us all down with him.” He tilted his head and looked at Bucky. “I don’t think I wanna talk about it after all. Could we watch something and cuddle?” 

Bucky scritched Clint’s chin. It didn’t feel as good in his human form, but Clint appreciated the affection nonetheless. 

“Sure. You pick something, and I’ll order dinner.” 

Clint scrolled through Netflix and had trouble finding something to watch. “You heard of this show The Witcher?” 

Bucky peeked in from the kitchen where he had been looking through a menu. “Becca says it’s good and that the main character is sexy.” 

Nope. Clint was not in the mood for competition today. Natasha had gotten in his head with her talk of rival wolves. Even though Bucky made his own decisions and wasn’t a prize to be won, knowing that other wolves were circling made the hackles of Clint’s alpha rise. He didn’t want to be an alpha asshole, but the urge to claim Bucky as his own thrummed in his blood when they were together. 

“Bet he’s not as sexy as you,” Bucky called out. 

It helped that Bucky was in such a good mood. His happy, content scent settled around Clint like a warm blanket. Once Bucky was done ordering, he returned to the living room. 

“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Clint said, “uh, would you mind scenting like a bandana or a t-shirt? You know, something I could take with me on missions.” 

Bucky’s eyes opened wide and twin spots of blush appeared on his cheeks. “That’s the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to me.” He smelled shy and pleased, and Clint wanted to bottle up that scent right then. “I’ll get you something.” 

Clint wished he’d brought an embroidered hanky or something equally cheesy because that would have made this even more romantic, but Bucky seemed happy with the options Clint gave him. 

Clint selected Fellowship of the Rings to watch, and they cuddled together on the couch watching the movie while they waited for the pizza to arrive. Bucky, god bless him, had ordered three pizzas so they would have leftovers for the morning. After they were stuffed full, they finished the movie and started on the next one of the trilogy. 

“Do you mind if I change to a wolf?” Clint asked. 

“Not at all,” Bucky said. He got that silly proud look in his eyes whenever Clint asked for what he needed, and Clint wanted to feel patronized but mostly he felt happy to have pleased his omega. 

“But still cuddles?” Clint said, because: priorities. 

“Yeah.” 

“And chin scratches?” 

“Definitely.” 

Clint started to walk to the bathroom to shift when Bucky called out to him. “Can I see?” 

Wolves weren’t typically squeamish about shared nudity, but Bucky and Clint had been careful to avoid seeing each other fully naked so far. They had been taking things slow, dancing around the potential of being true mates so they could get to know each other first. 

“I wanna see what you look like,” Bucky said. “So I can think about it… later.” 

And wasn’t that a hell of an image: Bucky thinking about Clint naked while he touched himself. “Yeah, I can. Yup.” Clint eased his shirt over his head, adding a little stretch to it because he knew how to play to his audience. Bucky walked over to him, his aroused caramelized sugar permeating the air. He reached for Clint’s abs, and then froze and pulled his arm back down. 

“You can touch,” Clint whispered. Why he was whispering, he didn’t know. Something was happening, even if he couldn’t put his finger on it. Bucky’s fingers traced the ridges of Clint’s abs, scratching lightly in the hair below his belly button. The intensity of Bucky’s gaze made Clint feel hot all over. He unbuttoned his jeans and took them off, leaving only his purple boxers with arrows on. 

“These too?” Clint said. 

Bucky licked his lips and nodded quickly. “Yes...If you want.” 

Clint did want. He’d die happy under Bucky’s heated gaze. When the head of Clint’s cock came into view, Bucky gasped like it was the first dick he’d ever seen. Clint took his boxers all the way off, and Bucky lifted his hands up and then dropped them and then lifted them again. 

“You can touch this, too,” Clint said. 

Bucky ran a finger down Clint’s half-hard cock and then took Clint’s cock in hand and squeezed. A bead of precome oozed from the head and Bucky swiped his finger through it and sucked it into his mouth. 

“You’re trying to kill me,” Clint said. “You’ve been a plant all this time to take down the Avengers and kill me with your hotness.” 

Bucky squeezed again with a cocky grin on his face. Damn but Clint loved how assertive he was about his desire. 

“And now I’m all kinds a naked and you’re wearing clothes,” Clint said with a pout. 

Bucky let go of Clint’s cock, and Clint couldn’t help it, he whined at the loss. Bucky took a step and crouched into a runner’s stance. “I’ll take them off if you catch me.” 

Chase! Hell yeah. Clint took a step toward him, and Bucky dashed around to the other side of the couch. He had a small apartment, so they couldn’t chase too much without breaking something, but Clint didn’t bother to think about that. 

He sprinted after Bucky uncaring that his cock was flapping in the wind. Okay, it was a little uncomfortable, but worth it for the sexy come hither glares Bucky kept throwing his way. When Clint got to close, Bucky rushed to the bedroom and ran to the side of the bed farthest from the door. 

Clint stalked in, making a show of stomping on the ground and widening his stance. He growled. “There’s nowhere to go, little omega.” 

Bucky snorted. “I’ve got you naked and lured you into my bedroom. Pretty sure you’re the one who’s trapped.” He sprang forward and hooked an arm around Clint’s shoulders, pulling him forward onto the bed. 

Clint went happily, putting up just enough resistance to feel the strain in Bucky’s muscles. Bucky pushed Clint flat on the bed and straddled him. 

“I’m going to take my shirt off,” Bucky said. “Try not to die.” 

“No promises.” 

For all his coyness, Bucky seemed as desperate, too, and he pulled his shirt off quickly. He looked down at his position on top of Clint’s abdomen. “Should have taken my pants off before I got up here.” 

Clint rolled them so Bucky was on his back, and reached for the button on Bucky’s jeans. “Okay?” 

Bucky nodded quickly. His skin was smooth and near hairless. Clint let himself luxuriate in the touch until Bucky huffed and tried to take matters into his own hands. 

Clint batted Bucky’s hands away from his buttons. “I’m getting there,” he said. “Hold your horses.” 

Bucky whined, high and breathy. “Alpha, please.” 

Holy shit. Clint put his head against Bucky’s stomach and took a deep breath, trying to rein himself in. “That was evil and awesome, and I see right through you.” 

Bucky batted his eyes all faux-innocence, but Clint was not fooled. His omega had Clint wrapped around his finger. Just to be annoying, Clint unbuttoned and unzipped Bucky’s jeans so slowly that Bucky growled. 

“Get on with it, Barton,” he said. 

Clint gave him his best shit-eating grin. “Whatever you say, _Barnes_.” 

Once Bucky was clad in only his boxers, Clint rubbed his face against Bucky’s hard cock, scenting him greedily. His pheromones were strongest here, still sweet but musky and masculine. Clint mouthed at Bucky’s dick, and Bucky made a low punched out noise. 

“Wanna suck you,” Clint said. 

Bucky’s whole body stiffened, and he reached for Clint’s hair for a handhold. “Yeah. Yes, please. Do that.” 

Clint grinned. He happened to be particularly good at giving head. 

“Stop smelling so smug,” Bucky groused, unable to hold back his own smile. 

Clint pulled down Bucky’s boxers and took a moment to look at him. Bucky’s omega cock was much smaller than Clint’s, soft pink and jutting up from his body, already shiny with precome. He’d fit perfectly in Clint’s mouth. 

Clint nosed at the scent glands on Bucky’s upper thighs, reveling in his scent. When Bucky tugged on his hair, Clint licked a stripe up Bucky’s dick, and the omega squeezed his legs together around Clint’s head. 

“S’good,” Bucky said. 

Clint wanted to tease and draw it out, but he figured Bucky using his thighs to crush Clint’s skull meant the omega wanted to get on with it. Without preamble, Clint sucked Bucky’s cock into his mouth, the whole length fitting easily. God but he tasted good. 

Clint bobbed up and down, running his tongue along the delicate vein on the underside of his dick and suckling on the head. Bucky squirmed and yanked on Clint’s hair, urging him to move faster. 

Clint pulled off with a wet pop, and Bucky whined at the loss of sensation.

“Wanna fuck my face?” Clint said. 

Bucky’s eyes widened, and he hastily licked his lips. “Wow. Not right now. But wow.” 

Clint winked at him and went back to work. The velvet skin of Bucky’s cock felt right on his tongue, and he slurped it down messily. Before long, Bucky was thrusting up into Clint’s mouth, so mindless with pleasure, he didn’t seem to notice what he was doing. 

“Alpha, gonna come,” Bucky said breathily. And holy hell that made Clint redouble his efforts. He wanted to be Bucky’s alpha, and goddamn but he’d prove it. 

Bucky came with a broken cry, and hot liquid spurted down Clint’s throat. Clint swallowed all of it, relishing the sweet creamy taste. He continued to suckle on Bucky’s cock until Bucky pushed him away weakly. 

Bucky’s cheeks and chest were flushed red and a thin sheen of sweat coated his body. He looked well fucked, and Clint loved it. 

“Do you want me to blow you?” Bucky said, once his breathing slowed down. 

That did sound amazing, but Clint had another fantasy in mind. “Um, would you mind if I came on you?” 

Bucky smiled indulgently. “Wanna mark me up, alpha? Let everyone know I’m yours?” He preened and stuck out his chest. His dusky pink nipples looked mouth-watering. 

Holy hell, dirty talking Bucky was awesome. Clint had been fantasizing about come marking Bucky ever since Natasha told him about the other wolves who were rivals for Bucky’s affection. “Yeah, yeah. All mine.” 

It stung a little to know that Bucky was talking dirty and caught up in the play of sex, but he didn’t yet want to be Clint’s mate. It was all real for Clint. He wanted to be Bucky’s and for Bucky to be his. Still, it was gratifying to hear. 

While Clint knee walked up his body, Bucky said. “Just be careful with my eyes.”

Clint fisted his cock, using the precome to smooth the way. Bucky put a hand over Clint’s. 

“I want to help.” 

“Squeeze my knot,” Clint said, happy to have Bucky’s hands on him. “I mean, please squeeze my knot.” 

Bucky chuckled at Clint’s fumbling, but wrapped two hands around Clint’s knot and applied delicious pressure. “Mark me up, alpha,” he breathed. 

Clint was right on the edge and came a few moments later, great gushes of come splattering on Bucky’s chest and shoulders. The viscous white fluid gathered in the hollows above Bucky’s collarbones and dripped down his sides. Clint purred happily, and, following instinct, rubbed his come into Bucky’s chest, coating his nipples with it and massaging his pecs. 

“I don’t know why that’s hot,” Bucky said, pushing his chest into Clint’s hands. “But fuck it, it is.” 

Clint pressed come up to the scent glands on Bucky’s neck, down his arms to the glands on his wrists, rumbling happily. Now everyone would know they were together. Their mingled scents would last for days. 

Eventually, the mess caught up with them, and they had to hop in the shower before everything dried. Clint let Bucky go first, as the shower was too small to fit both of them and the gentlemanly thing was to let him come-covered partner go first. He changed the sheets, only regretting that he hadn’t gotten to taste the omega’s slick. Maybe next time the Bucky would let him eat him out. 

“You smell horny again,” Bucky said after his shower, entering the room wrapped up in a towel. “But I’m too tired for a round two.” 

“Just planning for the future,” Clint said. He leaned down and kissed Bucky, trying to pour all of his hopes and promise into the action. “This isn’t how I thought tonight would go,” Clint said against his lips. 

“Disappointed?” 

Clint kissed Bucky again, and the omega melted into him. “You’re perfect,” Clint said. 

Bucky smiled back, looking just as happy and dopey as Clint felt. He shook his head to lighten the moment. “And you smell bad. Go shower."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clint has some feels... 
> 
> Hope you liked it! That volume of come just snuck in there and I blame @flowerparrish for encouraging me to be creative and try something new. It was fun.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Load up,” Sam said. “The situation is escalating.” 
> 
> Clint felt panic thrumming through his bones, the music reaching a fever pitch. “I don’t think I can.” 
> 
> Sam’s shoulders stiffened. “I know I’ve been hard on all of you and I’m working on it, but Clint, I need you on this. Natasha hasn’t checked in, so it will just be you, me, and Tony with Steve coordinating from the jet. We can’t do this without you.” 
> 
> Sam stepped closer, and Clint automatically took a step back. Sam was his brother, his pack, and it hurt him to disobey orders, but he had to.
> 
> “I can’t, Cap. I’m sorry.” Abruptly, the music in Clint’s head went quiet, and he felt an ethereal sense of peace. “I can’t explain, but I have to stay. I have a feeling.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank y'all for reading along! This is the second to last chapter. Things get pretty intense, and there is an attempted kidnapping of Bucky and some pups. Everyone makes it through unharmed, and in my head Tony pays for them all to do therapy. If you aren't sure if it will trigger you, message me on Twitter (@jetpackedbears), and we can chat about it. 
> 
> The chapter ends on a happy, silly note.

A few weeks later, Clint awoke with a heavy sense of dread pressing down against his chest. The lights in his apartment flashed and the bed vibrated—a handy alarm system he had installed. Clint groaned put in his hearing aids quickly and located his phone. 

“Barton, get to the Tower,” Sam barked. “We need to be wheels up within the hour.” 

“What’s going on?” Clint said, voice still muzzy from sleep. 

“Are you just waking up?” Sam said. “It’s two o'clock in the afternoon! Doesn’t matter. Get over here.”

Clint crammed his uncooperative limbs into his suit and zipped it up, dread making him clumsy. Faint music played in the back of his head, and he couldn’t help feeling like he was in a horror film a moment before the jump scare. No more questionable leftovers late at night, he decided. And this time he meant it. 

He made it to the Tower in record time, and Steve briefed him on the mission through Clint’s combo hearing aides and comm unit. Robots were attacking Florida, and there were already reports of casualties. The details sounded grim, but Clint could only half-concentrate as the music continued to play. 

As Clint took the elevator to the top floor, the music got louder, reaching a fever pitch. It was in his whole body, trumpets rumbling in his stomach, snare drums to the beat of his heart. Something was very wrong. 

He exited the elevator on the roof, but his body wouldn’t let him take another step. 

“Load up,” Sam said. “The situation is escalating.” 

Clint felt panic thrumming through his bones, the music reaching a fever pitch. “I don’t think I can.” 

Sam’s shoulders stiffened. “I know I’ve been hard on all of you and I’m working on it, but Clint, I need you on this. Natasha hasn’t checked in, so it will just be you, me, and Tony with Steve coordinating from the jet. We can’t do this without you.” 

Sam stepped closer, and Clint automatically took a step back. Sam was his brother, his pack, and it hurt him to disobey orders, but he had to.

“I can’t, Cap. I’m sorry.” Abruptly, the music in Clint’s head went quiet, and he felt an ethereal sense of peace. “I can’t explain, but I have to stay. I have a feeling.” 

Sam squared his shoulders, fury seeping into his scent. “Goddamn it, Clint. People will die. I’m supposed to let you go based on a feeling?” 

Clint continued walking backward until he reached the elevator, eyes on Sam, trying to convey how heart-wrenching this was for him. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” 

As the elevator went down, Clint said, “JARVIS, can you locate Bucky?” 

“Mister Barnes is with six children and two adults at a playground.” 

“Any apparent distress?” 

“None that I can determine. I am able to patch into a video feed from a nearby bank and will monitor, but there does not appear to be anything amiss at the moment.” 

JARVIS’ report did nothing to change Clint’s certainty that something was wrong. The pull to Bucky was overwhelming. Clint didn’t know why, but he needed to be near him at that moment, no matter what it took. 

“Please record as much as you can and notify me of changes in status. Would you mind giving me directions as I ride?” 

Clint hopped on his motorcycle and followed JARVIS’ directions to the park. The peace that descended upon him remained, but underneath it, he felt a frisson of electricity. This was the calm before the storm. Lightning would strike soon, and his alpha was making him ready. Clint’s senses sharpened, even the smell of the sweat inside his helmet became more potent.

“Excuse me, Mr. Barton,” JARVIS said, “I do believe there has been a change in status. Twenty heavily armed humans are approaching the playground on three vectors. They will surround the wolves soon.” 

“Can you get a message to Bucky or the other parents?” 

“Already tried, sir,” JARVIS said. “It appears their cell phone communication has been interrupted.”

On the visor of Clint’s motorcycle helmet, JARVIS projected a grainy image of twenty humans surrounding a play structure with three adult werewolves and six pups. Without the pups, the adults might have stood a chance to fight or flee, but there was no way this would go down in their favor. 

“Is there anyone on standby? Pepper?” 

“Miss Potts and Colonel Rhodes are rendezvousing with Captain America in Florida.” 

“Damn. Ask anyone you can think of,” Clint said. “Tasha?” 

“I have been unable to locate the Winter Soldier.”

Clint sped in and out of traffic dangerously fast, swerving around corners and running stop lights. Cars honked, and a cabbie shouted at him, but Clint ignored them.

“The wolves are now surrounded,” JARVIS said.

Clint reached the park and leaped from his bike and let it fall to the ground with a metallic clatter. He ran through the park to the playground, stopping at the top of a hill. The scene before him was chilling. Several armed operatives had formed a semi-circle at the edge of a plastic play structure. The children huddled around Bucky, no doubt drawn to his omega scent in a time of distress. Two of the adults, parents Clint guessed, had shifted into werewolf forms, growling and snapping at the approaching humans. 

It would be a short fight. Werewolf forms excelled at hunting and chase, but not for close-quartered fighting. And the parents were untrained civilians fighting against highly trained operatives with advanced weaponry. Clint’s inner alpha didn’t care about the odds. All that mattered was protecting the pups and his omega. 

The operatives at the front of the advancing group wore bite sleeves on their arms and neck that would barely slow down a werewolf, making them a row of cannon fodder. Behind them, several goons with stun batons and nets followed. Clearly, their intent was to capture not kill, which was Clint’s only advantage in this situation. 

A well-armed man pulled out a bullhorn and said, “We don’t want to hurt all of you. Give us the children or the omega, and we’ll let the rest of you go.” 

The two werewolf adults roared in fury, and Bucky growled and pushed the children behind him. 

The man chuckled into the bullhorn. God, Clint wanted to smack him. “Don’t be so testy. I only—” 

Clint shot an arrow that pierced the man’s throat before he could say anything else. The man fell to the ground in a thump. In rapid succession, Clint fired arrows at the humans with the stun batons closest to the wolves and took down five operatives. Then all hell broke loose. 

Clint couldn’t stay back and pick them off with arrows, because the remaining humans charged toward the pups. Clint charged into the fray roaring. 

He heard Bucky cry out, “Clint!” with a mixture of relief and terror. 

Clint shot two more operatives before had to switch weapons. He threw a knife into a goon’s chest and landed a punch in another’s face, knocking the man out. Behind him, the werewolves were giving the fight their all, slashing and biting, but they were quickly overwhelmed. An operative threw one werewolf to the ground and tasered her viciously. 

Clint tasted sweat and blood in his mouth and smelled the acrid scent of omega distress in the air. God, remind him never to upset Bucky, that smell was intense. The remaining operatives focused on Clint, fifteen of them surrounded him. That couldn’t be right. He’d taken down so many already. 

“JARVIS, are they multiplying?” 

“It appears that reinforcements have arrived, at least ten more operatives. I am attempting to patch into all video surveillance networks in order to track their movements.” 

Clint made brief eye contact with Bucky as the omega looked on in horror. One of them punched Cint’s temple, and he covered his head and dodged blows while he waited for the black spots to recede. 

“Sir, I—” JARVIS said. 

Two operatives through a net over Clint, and oh shit, it was a taser net. When did Hydra get those? 

As Clint’s body shook with the electric shot, a guy in a ridiculous red costume swung in on some kind of white cord and pinned the operatives to the ground with sticky web material. Fuck. It was the Spider Kid. 

“JARVIS,” Clint said. Groaning as he pulled the net off himself. “You know kids aren’t allowed.” 

Clint hopped over the operatives glued to the ground and stumbled toward the wolves, trying to regain his bearings. He punched the operative closest to the werewolf parents, and the man’s nose broke with a satisfying crunch. 

“Excuse me, Mr. Hawkeye, sir,” the Spider Kid said with a squeaky voice into the comms. Great. Tony had already kitted him out with equipment. “But I’m almost seventeen, so I’m not really—” 

“Shut up, kid,” Clint said. 

“I do believe the saying is, beggars can’t be choosers,” JARVIS said primly. “Two additional vans of hostiles are unloading three blocks away. They will converge on your position in five minutes.” 

Fuck. Spider Kid webbed down the remaining operatives, and Clint vaulted onto the play structure. Bucky reached for him, and Clint allowed them one quick embrace before pulling back. Clint didn’t recognize all the children, but he remembered Leticia and Griff, and his heart clenched when he saw how they clung to Bucky’s leg in terror. 

“We’ve got to move,” Clint said. “You two.” He pointed at the parents in werewolf form. One was limping and the other was bleeding from a gash on his arm. “Take two kids each. Bucky will take the remaining two. Follow me and move as quickly as you can. We’re going to make a run for Avengers Tower.”

“It’s too far,” Bucky said as he picked up Leticia and Griff. 

“They’re sending reinforcements faster than we can neutralize them,” Clint said. “JARVIS, tell Spider Kid to follow behind us and keep Hydra off our tail.” 

“You can speak to me directly,” Spider Kid said peevishly. “And it’s Spider _Man.”_

Clint helped the pups get out of the play structure and loaded up the adults with their little passengers. Clint signaled Spider kid, and the group moved out. “We don’t stop until we reach the Tower,” he said. “If one of us is taken, keep going.” 

JARVIS piped the safest route back to the Tower into his earpiece, and Clint signaled to the others to follow. The streets were eerily quiet, a near impossibility in New York, and Clint tried not to think about how Hydra had managed it. They kept to alley ways, pausing only long enough to check for traps. 

“Mr. Hawkeye?” Spider kid said. “There are bunch more bad guys, and I don’t think I can stop them all.” 

Fuck. Clint scoped behind, and sure enough, a crowd of Hydra operatives had hopped out of a van and would soon overtake them. What was it with Hydra and vans? They could have saved a lot of space by using busses. Clint would have liked to blow up a bus. 

“Spider kid we need—” 

“I believe he will be unable to help,” JARVIS said. “They will overwhelm him will soon.” 

“Bucky,” Clint said, “I need you to lead on while I create a diversion.” 

“I can’t,” Bucky said, trembling.

“You can. You are the bravest wolf I know.” 

“Uh, guys,” Spider kid said. 

“Coming,” Clint growled. He looked back at Bucky. “I believe in you. Now go.” 

Clint ran into the melee behind them. Bucky cinched up his grip on the pups and took off running.

\----

Bucky’s omega snarled at leaving Clint behind, but his first duty, sacred and going back millennia, was to protect pups. Clint had arrived like an Avenging angel, catapulting himself into danger and felling an incredible amount of foes. He cast one last look back at his alpha and forged onward. Leticia clung tightly to his neck, and Griff held onto his other side. Bucky’s arms burned from holding them and running, sweat making his shirt stick to his back.

“This way,” Bucky said to Andrea and Lawrence, the parents with him who were still in their werewolf form. 

They hurried along the side of a giant white building. The din of sound behind them grew distant as the operatives fell farther behind, stopped by Clint and someone in a costume that Bucky didn’t recognize. 

Bucky turned right at a corner, and someone shot a bullet directly in front of him. Leticia squeezed him tightly, and Bucky turned back quickly and motioned for Andrea and Lawrence to follow across the intersection with him. Another shot rang out, again blocking their path, and the group turned and ran to the opposite side of the street. They made it a block before a bullet broke the glass of a coffee shop. Bucky yelped and ran into an alleyway with the other wolves hot on his heels. 

Bucky’s insides turn to ice when he looked down the alley. It didn’t cut through to the next block. He had led them to a dead end. 

He peaked his head out, but shots rained down around him, and he stumbled backward. He heard people shouting at one another, relaying their position. Bucky put down the pups and checked his phone. Still no signal. 

Just outside the alley, the group of bad guys stopped. One stepped forward, and when the wind shifted, Bucky caught his scent. Wolf. Hydra had a wolf working for them. 

Anna must have smelled him, too, because she snarled viciously. 

The wolf clucked his tongue and swaggered forward like he had all the time in the world. He had dark brown hair, and a handsome, craggy face. His smirk was all alpha. 

“Now, now,” he said. “That’s no way to treat your new pack leader.” 

Anna snarled again. She and Lawrence put down the children and formed a line with Bucky between the bad guys and the children. 

“I don’t care about you,” Brock said, eyes sliding from her to Bucky. “But this omega here… Bucky, with you at my side, everyone would have to follow us. There hasn’t been an alpha-omega pair as pack leaders in a generation.” He held out his hand, as though Bucky would willingly walk toward him. “If you mate me, I’ll leave the children alone. All you have to do is come with me.” 

Bucky held still for one agonizingly long moment until Leticia tugged on his pant leg and snapped him out of it. “No,” she whispered. 

Bucky patted her head softly. "Stay back, Tiny Bear,” he whispered. “Be ready to run.”

“How do I know you’ll keep your promise?” Bucky said. Lawrence put a clawed hand on Bucky’s shoulder and shook his head. Bucky squeezed his hand. He didn’t want to mate Brock, but he had to buy time and hope Clint found them. 

“You’ll just have to take my word for it, sweetheart,” Brock said. “Come here.” 

Bucky hesitantly moved forward, and Brock stepped close to him so they were flush against one another. He smelled like something gangrenous like he was rotting from the inside out. Brock mouthed at the mating gland on Bucky’s neck, and Bucky stumbled backward, revolted. 

“Stop,” he hissed. “I would rather die than mate you.” 

Brock chuckled, but his eyes flashed with anger. Puffing up tall, he used his alpha voice and said, “Omega, come with me and be mine.” 

Bucky felt a queasy feeling in his stomach, but then... nothing. The alpha voice didn’t work. Unmated omegas weren’t supposed to be able to resist an alpha, but Bucky felt no compulsion to follow him. 

Growing furious, Brock tried again. “Omega,” he said, voice low and rumbling, “join me. And we will be the most powerful mates in the entire world.” 

Bucky snarled and refused to move. He didn’t believe Brock’s promise of safety, and Bucky would fight to his last to protect the pups.

A thick vein bulged out from Brock’s forehead. “I knew we should have separated the bitch from the pups first. Stupid humans.” He stalked forward and grabbed Bucky by the throat. “Omega, I am your alpha.”

Bucky’s claws formed in a flash, and he scratched at Brock’s face, leaving brutal slashes of red. Recoiling, Brock dropped Bucky and let out a primal roar. 

Bucky felt his teeth elongating, the telltale itch of fur about to sprout. “I. Already. Have. An. Alpha.” His shoulders ripped his shirt open and his pants stretched to the max. Bucky clawed open Brock’s throat, and the alpha fell to the ground in a burbling mess. 

The other bad guys recoiled at the loss of their leader, but it was clear there was no love lost on him. They regrouped and pressed forward. 

Leticia snarled behind him, and Bucky felt a burst of pride at her bravery. Pinned in, they had no hope of escape. Bucky reverted to his human form and turned to Lawrence and Andrea because someone had to be able to communicate. “Let’s try to push them into the street and hold them off while the kids make a run for it.” The parents and pups nodded their heads in approval, and Bucky hoped Leticia would actually run instead of staying behind to protect him. 

Suddenly, a giant wolf jumped in front of them. It was in its were form, over eight feet tall with eyes that shone a blazing red. Its fur was thick and white, and its teeth were capped with some kind of metal. Natasha, Bucky realized. Hydra must have used something on her to make her the biggest werewolf he’d ever seen.

The bad guys flinched backward. One of them grabbed what looked like a walkie talkie. “Winter Soldier located in—” 

He didn’t have time to finish his sentence. Natasha shot forward with deadly grace and terrific speed and bit his head off. She didn’t stop. Her sharp claws lopped off limbs, and she ripped open the chest of another. She was magnificent, blood running down her white fur, dripping from her teeth. 

Once the way was clear, Natasha braced a hand on the wall, chest heaving. Griff wriggled out from behind Bucky and ran forward. He threw his tiny arms around her leg and squeezed. 

Natasha looked in alarm between the pup and Bucky, and Bucky, though trembling, smiled encouragingly. “We have to go,” Bucky said to Griff. He picked Leticia back up, and Griff begrudgingly let go of Natasha. 

As the parents readied the children to leave, Clint ran around the corner and almost barrelled into Natasha. She snarled at him viciously, and Clint held his hands up and jumped backward. 

“Whoa!” he said. “Sorry. Wasn’t looking where I was going.” 

Natasha hunched over, growling, and stared into Clint’s eyes, sussing out his intentions, as though she didn’t trust him. Natasha was all instinct now, and it took her a moment to regain her footing. It was always a risk when they shifted that wolf might take over. 

“He’s on our side,” Bucky said softly. “He wants to help protect.” 

“There’s a quinjet two blocks North,” Clint said, hands still held up in surrender. “JARVIS auto-piloted it here. If we can get there…” 

Natasha took a deep breath and looked between Bucky and Clint before she relaxed. Turning to the other wolves and pups, she motioned for everyone to follow her. 

The path between the alley and the quinjet was filled with bag guys. Natasha snarled and ran toward them with Clint behind her. They fought together like they were two halves of the same person, seamlessly integrating their movements. A human shot at Natasha and she pivoted out of the way, grabbing Clint and swinging him up in the air. From his new vantage, he shot several bad guys before they had time to aim. 

Natasha towered over the humans, slashing her way through them. One aimed a gun at her face, and she bit it in half. Bucky and Andrea shared a shocked look. What the hell had Hydra done to Natasha? Finally, the flurry of fighting slowed, and Natasha motioned for the wolves to follow her. Clint brought up the rear. 

Natasha insisted on checking the jet first to make sure no one had tampered with it. Once the pups and Bucky were onboard, Natasha disembarked. 

“Wait!” Clint called out. 

Natasha turned to him, blood still staining her jowls. 

“Omega,” he said gently. “I need you to stay here.” Natasha ignored him, so Clint called out, “Please, Tash, protect the pups. In case they attack the jet.” 

Natasha froze in her movement but then turned around and marched back onto the quinjet. She planted herself in front of the pups. Clint started to walk away. 

“You’re leaving?” Bucky said, voice breaking. They had finally gotten to safety; he couldn’t bear to be parted from his alpha. 

“I have to find Spider kid,” Clint said. “I can’t leave him behind.” 

Bucky felt the tears well up, stinging and unwelcomed. “But you’ll come back to me, after?” 

“I promise.” 

\---

Once they were back in the Tower, Angela and Lawrence went to the hospital for medical treatment. Natasha insisted on doing a perimeter check and locking down the entire building. Then she went to her apartment to clean up and calm down. 

With JARVIS’ help, Bucky contacted the parents of the pups under his care. The city was on lockdown, but JARVIS assured him he would find a way to reunite the children with their parents soon. Near exhausted, he built a nest in a walk-in closet on the common room floor and crawled in with the pups. None of the blankets smelled like Clint, which rankled him, but the alpha rarely used his Avengers apartment. 

Leticia crawled into Bucky’s lap, and the other pups snuggled close, sniffling and whimpering. The adrenalin had faded, and two of them trembled as their bodies processed the trauma of the day. Bucky willed himself to project calm, but his scent smelled watery and thin. Worn out, he wanted nothing more than to nap with the pups, but his stomach wouldn’t stop burbling and churning. 

“Hungry,” Leticia murmured against Bucky’s chest. None of the pups had wanted to eat at first, and Bucky’s heart ached when he looked at their hollow little faces. Bucky had brought a stack of food and water into the nest, hoping they would change their minds. He handed her three whole wheat crackers and cheese, and she munched on them without looking up. 

“Anybody else want food?” Bucky said. Helen and Aliyah nodded, and Bucky felt a rush of relief. These children were Leticia’s friends, so he had played with them frequently and knew what they like. He handed Aliyah grapes and turkey jerky and gave Helen a half a peanut butter sandwich. Griff still refused to eat, and Bucky got the feeling he wouldn’t do so until Natasha or his parents arrived. 

“Any word from Clint?” Bucky asked JARVIS. 

“Not as of yet. I will alert you immediately, should the situation change,” JARVIS said. 

“Thanks, JARVIS.” 

Bucky repositioned a pillow and eased Leticia off his lap, so he could lie on his back. The pups immediately cuddled around him, and Leticia curled up in the crook of his elbow. Exhausted, the pups soon fell asleep, but Bucky stayed awake. He wouldn’t be able to rest until Clint returned. 

—-

Two hours later, JARVIS said, “Mister Barnes, Captain America, and the Avengers have returned to the Tower and are coming to your nest.” 

A few of the pups stirred and made grumpy faces at the ceiling, where they assumed JARVIS was, for interrupting their nap. 

“Wolves only please,” Bucky said. “Strange humans will stress out the pups.” 

There was a moment of silence, and then JARVIS said, “I have relayed your message. Sir voice his objections, but Miss Potts has promised to keep him away.” 

Bucky sat up slowly, trying to avoid jostling the pups. They were not happy about moving, but once they sat up, they all started munching on the snacks Bucky had prepared. Even Griff ate a few crackers. 

“Bucky?!” Sam called out from the other room. 

“In here,” Bucky said. Leticia’s head popped up at hearing her uncle’s voice, but she didn’t leave the nest. 

Sam and Steve opened the door bringing with them twin scents of guilt, fear, and relief. 

“Baby girl,” Sam breathed. Leticia didn’t seem to want to move away from Bucky, so he invited Sam and Steve into the nest. Sam was still in his uniform with the cowl off his face. His eyes were red and the skin below them puffy. He’d been crying, Bucky realized. 

As soon as Sam and Steve settled, Leticia detached from Bucky and crawled into her uncle’s arms. Sam snuffled her wetly, pack marking her with his scent as she marked him with his. Steve leaned against the two of them, and Leticia marked his neck for good measure. Sam and Steve shared a look so happy and intimate, Bucky felt bad for watching. 

“She was so brave today,” Bucky said. “Even growled at the bad guys, didn’t you?” 

Leticia smiled at him and nodded. Sam made a hurt noise somewhere between sad and proud and squeezed her tightly. 

“Where is Clint?” Bucky said. 

“Talking to the police,” Sam said. “He and Natasha are going to do a press conference, and then he’ll meet you here.” 

Bucky nodded and pressed his cheek to Griff’s head. Even knowing that the fight was over, something still didn’t feel right. Maybe he wouldn’t feel better until he had Clint in his arms. 

“Thanks for keeping them safe,” Sam said, strain clear in his voice. 

Bucky rubbed the back of his neck, feeling grit and dried sweat there. “It wasn’t really me. Clint—” 

“You did good,” Sam insisted. “I’ll speak to him later, but you did good.”

— —

The streets were shut down, but Sam asked Rhodey, Tony, and Pepper to provide transport, and soon all the pups were reunited with their parents. Some families wanted to stay in the Tower for the night due to the added security, and Steve and Pepper coordinated lodgings for them. 

Despite knowing that Clint was safe and would join him after a press conference, Bucky still hadn’t settled. Sam sat with him in the common room and did his best to be a calming influence. 

“Where is he now?” Bucky snapped. His hair frizzed on the side, askew from where he yanked it. 

“He’s in front of the Tower, man,” Sam said for the fifth time. “As soon as the press conference starts, we’ll be able to watch him on TV.” 

Bucky’s distressed scent permeated the common room, and, whew, Sam thought Clint better keep his omega happy or his nose would suffer for it. Sam fetched some trail mix and strips of jerky, but Bucky steadfastly refused to eat. 

“I’m telling you,” Bucky said, “something is wrong. I can feel it.” 

Sam froze, echoes of the morning rebounding in his mind. He took Bucky’s hands in his. “Listen to me. Clint had a feeling this morning before anybody knew something was wrong. So I’m all in on you two. I believe you with whatever spiritual connection mumbo jumbo soulmate stuff is making this happen.” 

Bucky’s shoulders slumped in relief. “Really?” he croaked. 

Sam nodded. 

“So you’ll take me to him?” 

When Sam didn’t reply, Bucky’s scent turned smokey and angry. No wonder the guy wore blockers. All his feelings showed up in his scent, impossible to hide. 

“Why not?” Bucky said harshly. 

Sam briefly regretted not assigning Steve to Bucky babysitting duty, but, no, Steve was terrible at feelings and would have panicked at the scent of an angry omega. So it was Sam’s job. 

“It’s not safe,” Sam said. Bucky growled, but Sam kept going. “You were one of the targets, you get that, right? They want to use you to… Well, you know that part. And if I let you outside right now, it’ll give them the opportunity to try to take you again. And then Clint will kill me, and I won’t be able to help rescue you.” 

Bucky’s lips quirked up, not quite a smile but enough. Sam turned on the TV and sat down on the couch. “Press conference is starting now, and I promise I’ll reunite you immediately after, and we’ll figure out what’s wrong.” 

Bucky didn’t look convinced, but he agreed. “Ask Tony to standby just in case?” 

“Sure thing,” Sam said. “JARVIS, please—” 

“Already done, sir,” JARVIS said. 

Huh. Sam chuckled. Apparently, Stark’s AI was taken with Bucky already. 

Sam found the press conference and turned the volume up. Natasha stood on a podium, her chin up and expression defiant, with Clint behind her. Already a tall man, he looked giant and intimidating behind Natasha’s petite human form. The bruises and cuts on his face and blood-stained uniform only intensified his appearance as a fearsome wolf. Hardly someone who needed to be saved. 

“He looks pale,” Bucky said. The omega stood up and leaned toward the TV, as though this would get him closer to his alpha. 

Natasha cleared her throat and immediately the reporters quieted. “As you can see from the footage just released,” she said, “Hydra launched a coordinated and well-funded attack against our children today. The operatives in the video surrounded a playground and tried to steal out pups for the purpose of training them to be soldiers.” 

“How do you know that was their goal?” A reporter yelled out. 

Natasha fixed the reported with a terrifying glare and the people beside him took an involuntary step away.

“As I was saying. To many, I am known as the Winter Solider—a wolf and an Avenger. But my full name is Natasha Romanov, born in 1914. I was a nurse in World War II, taken by Hydra. They experimented on me, tortured me, and forced me to do their bidding. At the end of this press conference, I will release documents that confirm my story.” 

The reporters went into a frenzy, hands up and shouting before Natasha could finish her statement. 

“Why are you revealing this now?” Another reporter asked. 

The flash of cameras lit up Natasha’s red hair. For a moment, her eyes changed color to match — bright red and glowing. She looked beautiful and terrifying. 

“Hydra has been waging war on our kind for over a hundred years. I refuse to have these attempted kidnappings brushed off or forgotten. You are killing us and stealing our children. We need the support of humans to stand with us against Hydra. We can’t do it alone. And the wolf packs need to stand together. All of us. Together we must fight back against genocide.” 

The reporters were silent for a second, shocked by her words, and then re-erupted with questions. Natasha took a few questions, and when she finished, she turned to Clint. He smiled at her, listed to one side, and collapsed. 

\----

Clint looked small, almost wilted in his hospital bed. He’d lost a lot of blood and was hooked up to IVs for transfusions, hydration, and pain medication. The off white scrubs with blue flowers were anachronous with his big alpha strength. He’d probably love it. 

Bucky paced back and forth in the too-small room, staring at Clint’s prone form. Apparently, the big oaf had been so hopped up on alpha juice and heroic purpose he hadn’t noticed his multiple stab wounds. Bucky was going to kill him… as soon as he was better. 

A human nurse tried to get Bucky to leave, but he snarled and bared his teeth at her, and she scurried away. Humans. Bucky wouldn’t leave; he had to protect his alpha. 

Around eight pm, Natasha entered the room. Clearly, Clint collapsing had hit her hard, and her eyes were still puffy from crying. She cupped Bucky’s cheek. “You need to rest,” she said. 

“It’s not…” Bucky dug the heels of his hands into his face to marshal enough stillness to find the words. “The room is too small. It’s… there’s too much metal, and it smells like chemicals, and I just can’t.” He dropped his hands. “Nat, I can’t let him wake up here alone.” 

“I’m not saying leave,” Natasha said kindly. “Just sit down.” 

“I want…” Bucky stopped and flushed with embarrassment. “I want raw meat. Burger or steak, I don’t care. I need to feed my wolf. And blankets. There should be more blankets in here, and—” 

“Bucky,” Clint murmured. Bucky rushed to his side and held onto Clint’s cold, clammy hands. “Lie down with me,” he said, eyes half-open. “Meat in the morning.” 

Natasha helped Bucky clear a spot on the bed, so Bucky wouldn’t pull out any of Clint’s IV lines. Bucky carefully laid down, feeling like he was vibrating out of his skin. But alpha wanted him by his side. Alpha wanted comfort. 

“Scent me,” Clint mumbled. Bucky ran his nose up Clint’s neck, inhaling lungfuls. The alpha’s scent was faint, with an acidic smell on top, but Clint’s musk was underneath. 

“S’good,” Clint said. “S’real good.” 

“Excuse me,” JARVIS cut in. “There appears to be a woman throwing herself against the doors of Stark Tower. I have identified her as Becca Barnes.” 

Bucky groaned. It was fair for her to worry, but honestly, so dramatic. 

“Let her in, JARVIS,” Clint said. He was suddenly more awake and was grinning at Natasha like a weirdo. She avoided his gaze, and Bucky was too tired to interpret that. 

Becca burst into the room, worry and anger making her scent smell like burned pine trees. Bucky knew that smell. He hopped out of Clint’s bed and intercepted her. 

“Don’t start,” he said. 

“Excuse you, James Buchanan Barnes,” Becca said around grit teeth. Bucky rolled his eyes. Full naming him only worked when his mother did it. “Mom, Dad, Aunt Sharon, Vera, Uncle Jerry, Noni, Grandaddy Bill, and all your friends have been calling me for hours.” 

Becca stepped into the room and towered over Bucky. “Three pack elders came to my apartment, and I had to tell them that my own goddamn brother hadn’t deigned to call me.” 

Bucky pulled her big, grumpy body into a hug. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” 

Becca slumped and gripped him tightly. “You rarely give in so quickly,” she said wetly. “No smartass comments about my caveman alpha blah blah.” 

“You caught me in an apologizing mood.” 

Becca released Bucky and insisted on checking him for injuries. She turned his head in different directions and patted down his body. His cheeks burned red, but he let her do it, figuring he owed her. 

When she pulled up his shirt, Bucky wriggled away. “I’m fine, okay? A little scratched up, but we can skip the strip search.” 

Becca squinted at him, only relaxing once she had determined he was being honest. Finally, she looked around the room and waved at Clint. 

“What? No inspection?” Clint said cheekily. 

“Nah. You’re fine.” 

Becca looked at Natasha, and it was as though a switch flipped, and she wasn’t a worried sister anymore. 

“How you doing?” she said. “I’m Becca. What’s your name?”

“That’s Natasha,” Bucky said, shuffling over so he stood between them. “Leave her alone.” 

Becca just looked over Bucky, damn her alpha height, and winked at Natasha, full of confident swagger and a grin that made wolves of all designations swoon, as if she wasn’t hitting on the most dangerous woman on earth. 

“I saw your fighting skills. You were hot.”

Bucky smacked her on the arm because his parents trained her better than that. “She could rip off your arms and beat you with them.”

Becca grinned. “Like I said, hot.” 

Bucky groaned and gave up. He trudged back to his chair and leaned his forehead down on the sheets of Clint’s hospital bed. Now was not the time, Becca. The room was silent and when he looked up, Natasha was blushing and smiling shyly at Becca. The Winter Soldier. Was. Blushing. 

Clint looked between the two of them with his face lit up like it was Christmas morning. 

“Keep it in your pants,” Bucky hissed at his sister. 

Becca swaggered over to a chair by Bucky, just barely brushing against Natasha as she walked by. “I can hardly be blamed for paying attention to a beautiful lady. It’d be rude not to.” 

Bucky grabbed the extra pillow by Clint’s face and swung it at Becca, hitting her squarely in the face. “Stop. Flirting,” he said, words punctuated by smacks of the pillow. 

Becca yelped and blocked the continued assault. Reaching out, she tried to grab the pillow from Bucky, but he stood up and danced away. 

“This is the best day ever,” Clint said, beaming at all of them. Everyone in the room froze. Even Natasha stared incredulously at Clint’s dopey, gleeful face, but he just grinned back like the world was filled with only sunshine and happiness. 

“We should all run together for the next full moon,” Clint said, and Bucky caught a bit of slur to his speech. He must have pressed the morphine drip. “My mate and I will show you the best places.” 

Becca’s eyes widened, and she pointed an accusatory finger at Bucky. “You better not have gotten mated without telling me!” Batting away his pillow, she yanked Bucky’s collar to the side. “Oh, thank god. Mom and Dad would have killed me.” 

Bucky wriggled out of her hold and took Clint’s hand. “Boyfriends. We agreed on boyfriends, not mates. He’s just a little high on painkillers.” 

Becca looked like she wanted to protest or tease, but she took a breath in instead. The one George had insisted she take whenever she got to alpha-y. “You should sleep,” she said to Bucky. She glanced at Natasha and Clint. “All of you should sleep. I’ll stand watch.” 

Bucky sighed. Natasha could kill a fleet of attackers if needed. “We don’t need—” 

“That sounds nice,” Natasha said, interrupting him. “Thank you.” 

Becca’s chest puffed up with alpha pride and she strode out of the room. Why was she always striding instead of walking like a normal person? Becca returned a few minutes later with a cot. Too tired to protest, Bucky followed her instructions to get into bed with Clint and covered them both with a blanket and arranged the cot beside Clint’s bed for Natasha. Natasha blushed again, and it was the first time Bucky caught her happy scent—like the ocean, clean and fresh. 

Becca pulled a chair between the door and Clint’s hospital bed and sat up straight. It was ridiculous alpha overkill. But it made it easier for him to fall asleep, and he dropped off almost immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Thanks for all the wonderful comments! I've been doing this intensive TBI treatment that is exhausting, and it's slowed writing and responding down, but I will get to them soon. Your responses make me so happy. 
> 
> The next chapter will be sappy smut and happiness. Anyone else loving Nat/Becca? I was thinking of writing a one-shot about them, if people would be interested.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Run, Becca,” Clint hissed. “They have blankets, and they’re not afraid to use them.” 
> 
> “Clint Barton,” Natasha said warningly. “I’m sure you are not making fun of omegas and our natural instincts, because that could end badly for you. Very badly.” 
> 
> Clint glanced between Natasha and Bucky, immediately chastised. “Nope. No jokes or criticisms.” He looked at Becca and mouthed. “Run.” 
> 
> Or: Nesting, sibling bonding time, and tearful confessions. Plus cuddles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, team. I added one more chapter, because I really felt like we needed a little comfort and fluff before the smut. Y'all have been amazing and supportive, and I really appreciate it. *hugs*

The hospital staff discharged Clint the next morning, and Tony insisted Clint and Bucky stay in the Tower for safety reasons. Clint didn’t mind his apartment in the Tower, but it didn’t smell like him, and he would have liked to be surrounded by his and Bucky’s scent. 

Without having to be asked, JARVIS delivered four gigantic boxes of blankets that Bucky immediately put to use. He laid down the thickest one on the floor on the empty walk-in closet, propped pillows along the side, added layer upon layer while Clint watched from the bed. 

“But how are we going to watch Dog Cops in there?” he whined. He always recuperated from his injuries by eating tons of pizza and binging his favorite show. 

Bucky growled at him, and Clint’s eyes widened in alarm. His omega was pissed, and Clint had no idea why. Just the day before, Clint had saved them all. Shouldn’t he still be getting hero treatment? He loved dating an omega, well, he loved Bucky, but Bucky’s omega instincts were going into overdrive. 

“You are going to sleep,” Bucky instructed, jaw clenched. “No Dog Cops, no three pizzas and a six-pack of beer. You’ll sleep, drink lots of water, and eat simple foods. That’s what the doctor said.” 

Bucky looked at him challengingly as though Clint might throw a fit if he didn’t get to watch shitty TV. Admittedly, he was tempted, but mostly he wanted to smooth out the furrow between Bucky’s eyebrows. “Okay, babe.” 

Bucky exited the walk-in closet and returned with yet another pile of blankets and pillows, stacked high enough to be towering above his head. These he had taken from the living room and guest bedrooms. 

“You okay, babe?” Clint asked, as Bucky muttered to himself and dropped the pile in a corner of the nest. “We can, uh, talk about it. Or whatever you need.”

Bucky pursed his lips and marched out of the closet. “I  _ need _ you to get into the nest and let me wrap you up.” 

Clint nodded but glanced around as though someone might save him from becoming a blanket burrito. Bucky helped Clint get up, although he honestly didn’t need the assistance. He didn’t. Granted, without the adrenalin he had yesterday, all the bruises and cuts, and, well, stab wounds, were starting to hurt.

Gently, Bucky helped Clint lie down in the nest. It was really comfortable, Clint begrudgingly admitted to himself, but Dog Cops. 

Bucky covered Clint with a blanket and tucked it in on both sides of his body. He slipped an extra pillow behind Clint’s neck, and one on each side of his arms. Then he took another blanket and covered Clint again, tucking it in around the pillows. He repeated the pattern one more time, and Clint felt like he was wrapped in bubble wrap. Someone could bomb the Tower, and he’d be safe. 

“Um, I think I might get a little hot this way, babe.” 

“I have taken the liberty of lowering the temperature in your quarters ten degrees,” JARVIS, the dirty, dirty traitor said. 

Clint scowled at the ceiling, but quickly schooled his features when Bucky looked at him. The omega’s scent was now tinged with something acidic, rejection, Clint realized. He thought his alpha didn’t like his nest. 

“Oh, no, babe,” Clint said. “I didn’t mean it like that. I love the nest. It’s awesome. Best nest ever.” 

Bucky sniffed wetly and pulled all the blankets and pillows off Clint. Something was going on, Bucky was never this emotional or instinct-driven. The fight had gotten to him Bucky hadn’t been settled enough to talk about it. 

“I’ll start again,” Bucky said shakily. He selected another blanket, this one a cushy duck feather down that he spread over Clint’s chest and pulled up to his chin. “I didn’t realize that you weren’t comfortable.” 

“Can I be of further assistance?” JARVIS asked, somehow pointing an accusatory finger at Clint. Okay, okay. He’d sit still and let Bucky do whatever he needed to to feel better. 

“Thank you, Jarvis,” Bucky sniffed. “Could you buy some gray sheets, cotton or something soft?” 

“Of course,” JARVIS said. “I would be happy to help.” 

Bucky continued his stacking actions, wrapping Clint up tight. It was pretty cute, Clint had to admit. His omega boyfriend nesting him into oblivion and trying to take care of him. Goddess help their children, if they ever had any. Clint Jr. would scrape his knee and Bucky would put him in one of those plastic balls for hamsters. 

“You smell happy,” Bucky breathed. “I’m… It’s better this way, isn’t it?” 

Clint honest to god couldn’t tell the difference in nesting techniques, but he knew there was a right answer. “Yes, babe. This is wonderful.” 

Bucky cooed happily and grabbed another handful of blankets. Thankfully, he didn’t cover Clint with these. Instead, he spread them out on top of the blankets on the floor beside Clint, covered those with pillows and covered the pillows with blankets. It was a giant, cushy space. 

Once he was done, Bucky stood up and surveyed the space. “Good. Yes.” He looked at Clint determinedly. “You sleep.” 

Bucky started to walk away, so Clint called out. “You’re not staying?” 

“I have to guard the perimeter,” Bucky said, as though that made any sense. Tony was on standby, JARVIS was watching over Bucky like he was the AI’s favorite child, and the goddamn Winter Soldier was in the building. “You sleep and I’ll keep watch.” 

No. Clint couldn’t stay a burrito by himself. He’d have to get out from under the covers at some point, and then Bucky would make sad faces, and Clint would feel like the worst alpha ever. 

“Excuse me,” JARVIS said. Great, now the AI was a permanent part of their relationship. This is why Clint wanted to go to his other apartment. Plus, Lucky was there. Or he was until yesterday when Kate came to take him. “I notified Miss Romanoff of your situation, and she is coming to your floor.” 

Noooo. Now there would be  _ two _ of them. Clint didn’t think he could handle that much coddling. He had been stabbed and beaten, but he wasn’t dead. Lightly stabbed at that. He hadn’t even lost a limb. 

“Thank you, JARVIS,” Bucky said. He smiled wetly up at the ceiling, and Clint was certain JARVIS would move heaven and earth for the omega. 

Natasha knocked on the door and entered without waiting for an answer. She walked to the front of the closet, and Bucky said nothing, just gestured to the nest for her inspection. Natasha looked around, and Clint sent her his best low-key help me look, which she ignored. 

“It looks perfect,” she said. 

All the air went out of Bucky’s lungs, and he grabbed a hold of her in a hug. “I’m so glad,” he said. “Clint didn’t like the first one.” 

“Clint’s an idiot,” Natasha said. 

“Hey!” 

Bucky nodded and squeezed Natasha tighter, ignoring Clint. “I still haven’t prepared food and water. JARVIS ordered some things, but I haven’t… I don’t know.”

Natasha rested her forehead against Bucky’s. They were quiet for a minute, just breathing in each other’s omega scent, and Bucky’s shoulders relaxed bit by bit.

“We take longer to calm after fights,” she whispered, just loud enough for Clint to hear, too. “You know this, but you’ve never had to go through it before. I’ll bring you two some food, but you need to rest.” 

Bucky didn’t let go right away. “But you need to rest, too. You did all the work, I just--” 

“You did plenty,” Natasha said. “You protected the pups.” She gently pried Bucky off her shoulders. “Becca is still here, taking a nap in my quarters. Do you want her to stand guard?” 

Bucky’s eyebrows shot up. Clint decided this was better than Dog Cops. Feels, drama, and treats were coming. 

“Why is she still here?” Bucky said. “Oh god, is she not leaving you alone? I’ll talk to her. She can’t just--” 

“I asked her to stay,” Natasha said. “Now lie down. I’ll have her come by when she wakes up.” 

Bucky scowled, clearly not happy with Natasha’s answer. “Becca can come, but she  _ cannot _ make fun of me.” 

Natasha nodded. “Of course, I’ll talk to her before she comes down.” 

Dang it, Clint thought. He’d be stuck in the nest while Natasha gave Becca a talking to, and he really wanted to watch the tiny omega boss around a big ole alpha. Popcorn. He needed popcorn. 

“Bucky,” Natasha said. 

“Fine.” As much as Bucky liked to complain about her, Clint could tell he loved his sister. “Actually, maybe she could add her shirt to the nest? Clint probably has something she could wear instead.” 

Natasha smiled sweetly, no doubt thinking of a topless Becca, but glared at Clint before he could chime in.

Finally willing to rest, Bucky crawled into the nest, careful not to jostle Clint. He curled up near him but left several pillows between them. Clint whined and did his best to look pitiful, which did not sway Bucky in the least. He huffed and built up the pillow barrier between them even higher. 

“But cuddles,” Clint said. He pouted and stuck out his bottom lip, and Bucky’s expression turned worried. 

“Clint Barton,” Natasha snapped. “You are  _ thrilled _ with the nest Bucky has built, and are grateful for his time and thoughtfulness whether or not he cuddles you.”

Clint nodded quickly. “Yup. Yes. Everything is perfect.” 

Natasha gave him a stern look as if to say, don’t fuck this up, and closed the closet door. Bucky was quiet for a few minutes, and Clint stayed still, trying to project just how very comfortable he was in the nest. This was going to be a long day. 

***

Becca knocked on the door of the closet and peered in. Unsurprisingly, Bucky had built the largest nest she’d ever seen and trapped Clint underneath. The alpha looked like he was stuck inside a tiramisu. 

“What’s going on in here?” 

“Nothing,” Bucky said tersely. Given the situation, he should have been cuddled up with his alpha, but Bucky had constructed a wall of pillows between them. 

“Run, Becca,” Clint hissed. “They have blankets, and they’re not afraid to use them.” 

“Clint Barton,” Natasha said warningly. “I’m sure you are not making fun of omegas and our natural instincts, because that could end badly for you. Very badly.” 

Clint glanced between Natasha and Bucky, immediately chastised. “Nope. No jokes or criticisms.” He looked at Becca and mouthed. “Run.” 

Becca chuckled. “All right, Buck. Come with me. You.” She pointed at Clint. “Do whatever Tash says.” 

“Traitor.” 

Bucky followed her numbly. Now she knew something was wrong. He wasn’t criticizing her for bossing him around or threatening to call their mother. 

“Becca,” Bucky groaned, but she could tell his heart wasn’t in it. 

“Hurry up, cupcake. Let’s get moving.” 

Becca led Bucky out of the apartment and to the elevator. Normally, he would insist on knowing where they were going or what they were going to do, but now he was following her without protest. She hadn’t slept at all the night before, but Bucky was the one who looked exhausted. 

They reached the gym, and Bucky frowned when Becca directed them in. “How did you even know this was here?” 

“Memorized the layout of Avenger’s Tower last night,” she said. “That AI is pretty handy, and I was bored.” 

The gym was nicely equipped with weights, the fanciest treadmills she’d ever seen, a sparring area, and several punching bags.

“Listen,” Bucky said. “I know you’re trying to help. But I’m not some alpha who needs to punch their way out of their feelings.” 

“Disagree,” Becca said. She took Bucky by the shoulders and pushed him towards a sparring ring. He rolled his eyes dramatically, but didn’t argue when Becca put boxing gloves on him. 

“This is stupid.” 

“Yup,” Becca said. She held up a punch mitt in each hand. “Now hit these.” 

Bucky punched the first one half-heartedly, only punching again when Becca glared at him. 

“Don’t stop,” Becca ordered. 

Bucky punched harder, probably just to get her to shut up, but Becca figured she could take it. She’d been handling Bucky’s sass her entire life. A couple of good hits seemed to rev Bucky up, and soon he was punching to a solid rhythm and sweating up a storm. 

“Good job!” Becca said. “Don’t stop, but tell me what’s bothering you.” 

Bucky wrinkled his nose and frowned at her. And he said  _ she _ was the dramatic one. “Don’t therapize me.” 

“Don’t bury your boyfriend alive in a pile of blankets.” 

Bucky slipped past her hands and punched Becca in the stomach. Becca saw it coming, again, she was an expert with Bucky Barnes’ sass, and all her time at the boxing gym hadn’t been for nothing. 

“There you go,” Becca said. “Get it out.” 

“I’m not upset!” Bucky punched again and again, a flurry of uncoordinated hits. “Everything. Is. Fine.” 

Becca danced backward, making Bucky chase after her. Nostrils flaring, Bucky charged forward, hitting with all his might.

“You think you’re so great,” Bucky said. “Striding in here like you’ve got the whole world figured out.” He kicked her punch mitt, movement sloppy and angry. “It’s not fair. Alphas have everything.” 

Becca said nothing, just listened. Bucky’s movement grew erratic as he punched. She hadn’t seen him this angry and heartbroken since Jerry had betrayed him after presenting. 

“They sent someone to mate me, like I’m not even a person. Like I’d just roll over at the sound of an alpha.” 

Ripping off his boxing gloves with his teeth, Bucky charged Becca and tackled her to the ground. He rained down blows as she easily covered her face with the mitts. “You. Have. Everything. And I have nothing.” 

“And I hate myself!” Bucky said, weakly punching now and wearing himself out. “Because I just wanted to hide. I’m such a coward. I just want to run away.” 

Becca caught Bucky by the wrists and gently slid him off her. He curled up with his head on his knees and arms around his shins. Big heaving sobs tumbled from inside him. Hiding his face, he took big heaving breaths. He never liked to let anyone see him cry, but there was no covering this. 

“You didn’t run away, Buck. You didn’t let them take the pups.” 

Bucky shook his head and pressed against his knees again. “You don’t know. You don’t know what it’s like to feel so fucking powerless.” 

That wasn’t entirely true. She had felt powerless watching the footage of the attempted kidnapping on TV and not knowing whether Bucky was safe. She’d felt powerless when the alphas at school had ganged up on Bucky and made his life miserable. And she felt powerless watching her brother sobbing in front of her and not knowing how to fix what Hydra had broken. 

“I’m sorry,” Becca said, because what else could she say? “It’s all bullshit, and I’m sorry.” 

Bucky looked up at her. His cheeks were stained red, eyes big and puffy, and she crawled over to him and pulled him into her arms. “You were so brave, Bucky. I’m so proud of you.” 

“Yeah?” Bucky said, voice wavering. 

“Braver than Clint, even Natasha.” 

Bucky huffed a laugh. “Bullshit.” 

Becca squeezed him tighter. She buried her nose in his hair and drew in his scent. “I’m serious. Clint has training, Natasha has some kind of superpower, but you had none of that and you still fought to protect the pups. You’re a hero, bro.” 

Bucky sniffled against her, and after a few minutes, he pulled back and wiped his snotty nose on her t-shirt. Because, hero or not, he was still a brat.

“I take it all back,” Becca said. Bucky looked up at her, his hair askew, and grinned with an exhausted cheekiness. “Let’s get you showered and then back to your nest.” 

“Clint will want me sweaty.” 

“Ew!” Becca exclaimed, pushing him away. “TMI, bro. I take back everything nice I ever said about you.” 

Bucky stumbled to his feet and wrapped his arm around her as they walked toward the elevator. “You love me, admit it.”

And she would never deny that. “It’s true.” 

***

Bucky returned to the nest to find Clint sleeping and still tucked under the pile of blankets. It made Bucky’s chest clench that Clint had been thoughtful enough to not disturb all his hard work. Still, Becca may have had a point—it was a lot of blankets. 

Bucky pulled two pillows up from Clint’s side and tossed them to another side of the nest. Several pillows blocked his path, and okay, he was now willing to admit that this _might_ be excessive. He continued to do this until there was enough space for him to cuddle close to Clint. 

Bucky settled there again, but soon was making little grumpy, unhappy noises, and lifted the blankets so he could touch Clint without barriers. Clint stirred and smiled at him. 

“I missed you,” he said, voice muzzy from sleep. 

Bucky took off his shirt and tossed it in a corner. Hesitating, he then slipped off his pants and crawled under the covers, body snuggled up right next to Clint, skin to skin. Still not satisfied, he sat halfway up and tapped Clint’s arm. Clint lifted it, and Bucky snuggled up into his armpit, head rested on his shoulder. He covered them both in the blanket and squeezed Clint’s chest carefully, mindful of his injuries. 

“You feeling better?” 

Bucky nodded, his face sliding across Clint’s chest. 

“Wanna talk about it?” 

Bucky made a mournful noise and shook his head. He didn't want to, but he knew he needed to. It wasn't fair to leave Clint in the dark. 

“I just wish I wasn’t the only one freaking out,” Bucky said, unable to stop the tears that gathered at the corners of his eyes. 

Clint pulled him gently to his chest, positioning Bucky’s nose right over his alpha scent glands. “Smell me,” he said, still rubbing Bucky’s back. 

He breathed in a lungful of Clint’s scent, musky but weaker than normal. “You smell hurt,” Bucky said, voice small. 

“But alive,” Clint said. “I’m here. I’m not gone. And you were so brave, taking care of the pups so I could fight. I am so proud of you.” 

“Becca said that, too.” Bucky teared up again, but scenting Clint was helping, and he felt his body go lax. It must have hurt Clint because of the bruising on his ribs, but the alpha didn’t seem to mind the pain. “Were you scared?” Bucky whispered. He scooted back, so his head rested on Clint’s chest. 

“Terrified.”

Bucky whimpered and curled his fingers into Clint’s chest. He slid off Clint’s body and sat beside him, running gentle fingers through his messy blond hair. 

“I almost lost everything yesterday, Bucky. I don’t know how I would have recovered if I’d lost you.” 

Bucky sniffed and cupped Clint’s cheek. “Me, either.” He felt suddenly exhausted, as though sharing his feelings had taken every drop of energy in his body. “Wanna nap?” 

Clint nodded, and Bucky tucked his body close to him, lifting his leg to rest on Clint’s hip. They fell asleep snuggled together, waking up to scent one another, drink water, snack, and then sleep again. 

“This is better than Dog Cops and pizza,” Clint said between naps. 

Bucky said nothing but nuzzled Clint’s chest, lulled back to sleep by the beating of his heart. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Many. Blankets. 
> 
> Next chapter is the last one, and I've decided to do a couple of one shots after because I love these characters so damn much. :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky felt every muscle and sensation as he raced away: the press of his toe pads against damp moss, the satisfying strain in his legs, the galloping movements in his hips. For a moment, he forgot all about Clint. His mind was on the run. 
> 
> Rut and heat weren’t just about sex. They were times for wolves to return to their roots and remember their true natures. Alpha, beta, and omega: human in appearance but wild at heart. 
> 
> He savored the rush of air through his fur, the scent of pine trees and mushrooms eating rotten wood, and seedlings pushing up from the earth. The whole of the forest thrumming with life and death. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter! I updated a tag. Originally I planned for this to be a bottom Bucky fic, but Bucky and Clint wanted something I hadn't expected. So now it's switch Bucky. If that's not your thing but you would like to keep reading, just skip the first sex scene.
> 
> Thank you @lilyinthesnow for the beta help!

Clint sat on the couch in his apartment, watching Dog Cops for the fifteenth time and eating his way through another pizza. In the two weeks since Hydra had attacked, he’d improved a lot, and Sam had agreed to let him go home. But he still had a way to go before his insides finished knitting themselves together. 

Bucky entered without knocking. Clint had pressed a key into his hand a week ago, and Bucky had responded with enthusiastic kissing and groping that had ended too quickly because of restrictions from his physician. Stupid doctor. Clint started down at his torso and willed himself to heal faster. 

“Hi Babe,” Bucky said, sitting carefully beside Clint to avoid jostling him. Clint pouted at him, and Bucky’s face turned all soft and amused. “What’s wrong?” 

“Sam won’t let me go on any missions.”

And sure, he had wanted a break from missions before, but now that he’d had a break, he was ready to get up and do something. Besides, there weren’t any new episodes of Dog Cops, and he was tired of reruns. 

“And all the new recruits are doing team-building exercises,” Clint whined. “And Sam won’t even let me train with them. One of them has an electric hammer! How cool is that?” 

“That is neat.” 

Clint nodded enthusiastically. “And another shoots red smoke out her fingers, or maybe it’s powder or something. Whatever. She can definitely lift things with her mind. Her mind, Buck. And I’m here resting instead of meeting my new best friend who can move things with her brain. All because of a little light stabbing.” 

Bucky’s face crumpled the same as it did every time he was reminded of Clint’s injuries, and he scooted closer. “The doc did say six weeks with no strenuous activity.” 

“Yeah, but I can’t even go out on diplomatic missions. Natasha is brokering treaties between the packs like a badass, and I’m stuck here.” 

And sure, he would have hated sitting in a stuffy boardroom with the pack leaders making sure everyone’s ego was satisfied and listening to long boring speeches, but the point of the matter stood. 

“Well--” 

“I could do something, I don’t know. Let me organize the equipment locker.” 

“Clint--” 

“All Sam will let me do is accept some stupid medal from the president and another from the mayor, which is so boring, I’d rather shine Tony’s suits than--” 

“Clint!” Bucky exclaimed, interrupting Clint’s rambling. Which, fair, he had made these same complaints multiple times in the last few weeks. “I have something I want to talk about with you.” 

The bottom of Clint’s stomach dropped out, and he subtly sniffed the air. It didn’t smell like Bucky was about to break up with him, what would that smell like? Apprehension probably, that always turned Bucky’s scent acidic, but he smelled like freshly bloomed flowers, fluttering and happy. 

“In four weeks, I’m going to have my heat,” Bucky said. He smiled shyly. “It’s the same weekend as the full moon. I was wondering if you wanted to spend it with me?” 

“Yes. Yup. Yes. Uh-huh. I do.” 

Bucky chuckled and relaxed, as though he had been expecting Clint to say no, which was so ridiculous that Clint rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around Bucky.

Bucky snuggled in close to Clint and kissed his shoulder. “I’m sorry I interrupted you. Did you want to talk about Sam and the Avengers?” 

Talk about Sam? Why would he want to talk about Sam when he could plan all kinds of sexy things to do to Bucky? 

“Nope.” Clint turned to his side, cupped Bucky’s cheek and pulled him into a soft kiss. He kissed his way down Bucky’s neck and suckled on his mating gland as Bucky let out a small sigh. God, but he smelled good. Warmth and honey suffused his scent the more he got turned on. 

Bucky pushed Clint half-heartedly away. His cheeks were flushed pink already and lips bitten red, the quintessential omega look. “Not supposed to do anything strenuous, remember?” 

Clint did not pout, because he knew full well that pouting was not sexy. He nuzzled Bucky’s neck and slipped his hands under his shirt. Bucky’s skin was soft with thick curls on his chest, and Clint loved skimming his fingers up his ribcage. 

“It’ll be fine,” Clint said. 

Bucky pursed his lips. “I’m serious.” He narrowed his eyes and looked Clint up and down with his _I’m solving important problems_ face. “If we do something, you can’t move around. I could blow you, but you’d have to promise to lie still.” 

Clint was struck with a delicious thought. “You could fuck me.” Hell yeah, he hadn’t had the opportunity to bottom in a couple of years, and he missed it. “You’ll probably want to do it the other way around during heat because instinct and all that, so now would--.” 

Bucky’s eyes widened in shocked lust. “Yes. Let’s. Yes. That.” He hopped up and ran to the bedroom, leaving Clint still half sprawled on the couch. 

There was a crash as Bucky flung open Clint’s bedroom door and then silence. 

“Clint Barton,” Bucky yelled. “Why is there a pizza box in your bed?” 

\-----

Sliding into Clint was a revelation. Bucky never particularly liked penetrative sex outside of heat, but pressing his cock into Clint’s tight, hot body changed his mind. 

“Oh god, this is, ungh, so tight. Fuck. Fuck.” He halted and put a hand on Clint’s thigh. Because of their height difference, Clint had to be positioned on the bed with Bucky standing next to it and Clint’s long legs over his shoulders. “I’m not hurting you, right? It’s too tight. Does it--” 

Clint pressed his fingers against Bucky’s mouth, silencing him. “S’good, babe. Don’t stop.” 

Bucky didn’t want to stop. He wanted to have his cock in Clint forever. It was too good. He would blow his load in three seconds. He tentatively thrust forward, bringing his body flush with Clint’s ass. 

“Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit.” 

Due to some very thorough fingering, Clint was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, body all loose and sloppy as he grinned up at Bucky. “I know, baby. You’re doing great.” 

Bucky took a moment to breathe deeply, but when Clint started shifting impatiently, he knew he had to get going. Moving, slippery, sliding, sparks went off in his mind. He leaned over to kiss Clint. The alpha had to curl up so he could reach and the clench of his abs added to the clench of his ass and holy hell Bucky could not handle this. 

“Give it to me,” Clint said with a wink. “I like it a little rough.” 

“You’ll take it how I give it to you,” Bucky growled. He slapped a hand over his mouth. “I don’t know where that came from!” It was like a line from a bad porno just popped out of his mouth. 

Clint burst into laughter, and Bucky felt a trickle of shame before Clint grabbed a hold of his hand and squeezed. “No, no, don’t be embarrassed. I was just laughing cause you looked so shocked.” He settled down onto the bed and put his hands behind his head. “However you want to.” 

Despite his posturing, Bucky went slowly and gently at first, just getting used to the feel of Clint’s body. But he couldn’t stay in his head. He slammed into Clint, the sudden tingling in his spine making him come hard into the condom. This was so embarrassing. He’d made fun of alphas that couldn’t last, and now he was one of them. 

“I’m so sorry. Oh, god. Clint. I just--” 

Clint put his hand over Bucky’s mouth again, apparently his favorite thing to do now. “Fingers.” 

Bucky pulled out of Clint and quickly discarded the condom as Clint repositioned himself in the middle of the bed with a pillow under his hips. Coating his fingers with lube, Bucky pressed three into Clint’s already loose hole. 

“Yeah, yes,” Clint said. “Bend them like this until you find... Ah! That’s it!” 

Bucky rubbed against the small bean of Clint’s prostate, massaging it and feeling out his channel. 

“Now in and out. Yeah. Those two things. Wow.” 

Taking his dick out of the equation helped, and Bucky was able to study Clint’s face and catalog his reactions to distinct movements. He was beautiful like this. Body tensing the closer he came, sweat now dripping in rivulets from his upper lip. 

“Harder. Yeah. Yeah.” Clint grabbed a hold of his cock and began pulling it roughly, twisting at the head. 

Bucky tapped his hand and Clint held up his palm so Bucky could lick it, wet and sloppy. The added lubricant must have helped, because Clint groaned when he touched his cock and thrust up into his hand. 

“Oh god, fuck. God.” 

Bucky felt his entire body tense like he was on the edge of coming. Clint looked amazing taking his pleasure, pushing back against his fingers and up into his own hand. When it looked like Clint was close, Bucky curled his fingers again and Clint came with a shout. 

He laid there sweating and beautiful, a mess of pleasure and come. Bucky curled up next to him, noticing belatedly that his bad timing cock had gotten hard again. Clint noticed, too, and scooped up some of his come and rubbed it on Bucky’s cock. 

“Jerk your cock,” he said, limbs sprawled across the bed. “Come on my chest.” 

And, fuck, who was Bucky to deny him?

Afterward, Bucky cleaned them up, and they held one another in bed, Clint’s hands absently tracing lines on Bucky’s hips. He had a question, but he wasn’t sure how it would be received. 

“Is it always like that?” he whispered against Clint’s skin. “I mean, with other people?” 

Clint shook his head and squeezed Bucky. “I think as we’ve gotten closer, we’re feeling some kind of echo of one another’s pleasure, ramping things up.” 

Bucky gasped. “Already?” 

It was a heady thought and too much for Bucky to unpack at the moment. He pulled a sheet over the two of them and dropped off to sleep. 

\----

They planned to spend Bucky’s heat at the wolf preserve until Tony casually mentioned that he had purchased five thousand acres in upstate New York for his werewolf teammates where they were guaranteed to not be disturbed. 

When Bucky had asked how they could thank him, Tony said, “Just take a couple of pictures for posterity.” Pepper glared at him, and Tony shrugged guiltily. “What? I’m curious how they do it. Okay, okay. Nevermind. Have fun.” 

Clint spent the next four weeks flagrantly ignoring doctor’s orders by driving up to Tony’s land and digging a den in the woods, carting in food and water, buying every soft blanket he could find, and stealing kisses in between Bucky’s study sessions. Sam tried to get him to slow down with no success. 

The day before his heat, Bucky awoke from a midday nap in a puddle of sweat and wrinkled his nose in distaste. Some parts of this process were not cute, and he wasn’t so caught up in the sex haze that he didn’t care about his disheveled state. He sent a quick text to Clint to tell him everything was on schedule and hopped in the shower. 

Ten minutes later, Bucky heard his front door bang open, and Clint clomped in. 

“Bucky?!” Clint called out. “Everything okay?” 

Bucky sighed, half fondness and half exasperation. This was the guy. The big goober who treated his pre-heat like an Avenger’s crisis. The alpha was probably carrying a go-bag and frantic like they were heading to the hospital to deliver their first pup. 

“In the shower! Just give me a second.” 

Bucky let himself luxuriate in the warm spray for a few more minutes. He was horny beyond words and ready to jump on Clint’s dick, but his next bath would be in a lake, and he wanted to at least start his heat clean. He heard Clint pacing in the living room, and Bucky was surprised he hadn’t come into the bathroom, but then again the alpha was good about never asking for more than Bucky offered. 

Bucky dried off, even his softest towel feeling scratchy against his skin. He wore loose sweatpants and one of Clint’s t-shirts, and the spike of possessive scent when Clint saw him made Bucky preen. Clint was wearing some version of his Hawkeye uniform, bow and arrows included. No doubt his souped-up alpha hormones made him want to protect his omega. 

Bucky bit his bottom lip, giving into his arousal and pressing himself against his boyfriend. Going anywhere suddenly seemed like a terrible idea. He wanted to fuck Clint, or gnaw on him, or eat him right up. His nails grew longer and pierced the leather of Clint’s jacket. 

“Uh,” Clint said, eyes wide and voice squeaky. “Maybe we should head out.” 

Bucky growled. “Maybe we should stay here.” 

Clint stepped back, face flickering between amused and horny. “I could blow you?” 

Bucky put a hand on Clint’s head and pushed down, having to go up on his tiptoes to reach. “Yes. Do that.” 

\---

The ride out to Tony’s land passed slowly with Bucky alternating between cheerful chatter and rubbing against Clint and making simpering little noises. It was sweet torment, and Clint was one rub away from exploding and spoiling his suit. Wearing it had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now his dick was trapped inside spandex, and it very much wanted out. 

Once they parked at the property, Clint loaded everything into a large backpack. He’d brought the blankets and most supplies on a previous trip, but he carried extra food, a first aid kit, and supplies to clean them up between rounds. Usually, Bucky insisted on helping Clint carry things, but now he seemed content to squeeze Clint’s muscles as they walked and eye him appreciatively. 

The holes Bucky’s claws had made in Clint’s uniform stretched wider as they walked, and Bucky’s hungry looks were sexy but vaguely unnerving. Because there were so few omegas, Clint had never slept with one, but he was sure he would have heard about it if omegas ate their partners, right? Bucky licked his lips, still gazing at him, and Clint was glad he had packed a good first aid kit. 

Even if Bucky had plans to eat him in the middle of heat, Clint didn’t care. What a way to go. 

When they reached the den, Clint tossed the backpack in and crawled through the narrow entrance. Past the initial tunnel, he had dug out a ten-foot room with a smooth, deep nest in the middle. He filled the nest with blankets and as many pillows as he could carry. The den was tall enough to stand up in but otherwise cozy. 

Bucky immediately plopped into the pit and rolled around. He burrowed down in the blankets and made a happy little noise. His happiness lasted for all of a moment before he huffed and rolled over. Kicking off the blankets, Bucky whined. 

“I know, babe,” Clint said. “Pre-heat is a bitch.” 

Bucky rolled his eyes, and, fair, Clint should have known better than to explain pre-heat to an omega. Still unhappy, Bucky pulled off his shirt and flopped around, trying to find a comfortable position. 

“Let’s run,” Clint said. “Maybe it’ll help clear your head.” 

Bucky grumbled but stripped off his pants and underwear. This was going to be a long week. 

Clint got halfway out of his uniform before Bucky pushed him over, and he landed with a thump in the nest. Bucky immediately crawled on top of him, rubbing their faces together and licking the scent glands on Clint’s neck. 

“That’s, oh, babe.” Despite his desire to give in, Clint pushed back gently, and Bucky pouted and reached for him. “You told me your heat always goes better if you run first, remember? I mean, I want to fuck, too. But you said you’ll be miserable if you don’t burn off some energy.” 

Bucky begrudgingly slid off Clint. “The one time an alpha listens to me, it bites me in the ass,” he grumbled. 

Clint wanted to say that he’d bite Bucky in the ass anytime, but he had some self-preservation and held his tongue. 

\-----

Shifting came with a fresh wave of arousal, but also energy and the desire to run. Once they were outside, Bucky took a moment to dig his paws into the ground, feeling the soft dirt and moss cool his overheated body. 

Clint took off at a trot, but that wasn’t enough for Bucky. He charged forward, ramming his body into Clint’s, so the big alpha stumbled and fell over. Clint yelped and rolled to his feet, but Bucky had taken off by then. 

Bucky felt every muscle and sensation as he raced away: the press of his toe pads against damp moss, the satisfying strain in his legs, the galloping movements in his hips. For a moment, he forgot all about Clint. His mind was on the run. 

Rut and heat weren’t just about sex. They were times for wolves to return to their roots and remember their true natures. Alpha, beta, and omega: human in appearance but wild at heart. 

He savored the rush of air through his fur, the scent of pine trees and mushrooms eating rotten wood, and seedlings pushing up from the earth. The whole of the forest thrumming with life and death. 

Simple. 

Lovely. 

Whole. 

They ran for hours until the simmering heat under Bucky’s skin banked to a full fire, and he jumped with a splash into the lake to stop himself from bursting into flames. Clint crashed in after him, with a few disgruntled nutria chittering about their disturbed peace. 

Bucky shifted into his human form so he could float in the water and watch the last of the setting sun. Holding hands, he and Clint listened to the gentle lapping of the water on the shore. 

-

Eventually, they grew hungry and swam to the shore to eat. Clint caught Bucky a fat rabbit and watched with puffed-up pride as he ate it. Normally, Bucky might have felt defensive about his ability to hunt for himself, but Clint offering him food felt right. It had been part of the pact between omegas and their lovers since the dawn of wolves. 

They took a brief nap, and when they awoke, the moon was at its zenith. Bucky crawled out of the den and Clint followed. They hadn’t exchanged many words in several hours, content to be in one another’s presence. Now, the moon shone down on them, and Bucky knew deep in his bones it was time to mate. 

Clint seemed to sense it too, and he wordlessly followed Bucky as they walked between the trees. The nest was soft and comfortable, but Bucky didn’t want their first coupling to happen there. His omega was restless, hunting for the perfect moon drenched spot. Eventually, they came across a large boulder, the top smooth and flat. It looked like an ancient altar, and Bucky immediately knew this was the place. He crawled up and Clint followed him. Together, they laid down on the cool rock and looked up at the sky. 

It felt right, alpha and omega together. No, more than that, it felt right to be with Clint. Clint made Bucky feel safe and confident and took care of him when he was vulnerable. Clint rode in like an avenging angel when he was in danger. Clint listened to him. 

It came as a shock, and Bucky felt so foolish. He loved Clint. Of course, he did. 

Clint lay on his back, waiting, and even now, not pushing. It was one of Bucky’s favorite things about Clint. He let Bucky lead, especially where it really mattered. He listened, and he was a partner. He followed Bucky’s lead, especially when it really mattered. He didn’t try to control or contain him. He cherished Bucky’s wild omega heart. Clint helped Bucky feel his wildness, the joy and play and danger of being a wolf. With Clint, he could stop being uptight and nervous and relax. With Clint, he could relax into his wildness. 

“I love you,” Bucky said, the words out of his mouth before his mind had fully registered the fact. “I, I think I’ve loved you for a while.” 

Clint smiled at him and brushed a strand of Bucky’s hair behind his ear. When he said nothing, Bucky turned peevish. “You’re supposed to say it back.” 

Clint looked confused for a moment and then burst into laughter. 

“What?” Bucky said, poking him in the stomach, and laughing in spite of himself. 

Clint captured Bucky’s hands and brought them to his mouth to kiss, looking over at Bucky with impossible fondness. The moment stretched between them, and Bucky saw the truth in the glint of Clint’s eyes and the upturn of his lips. 

“You love me,” Bucky said. 

Clint nodded. “Since the day we met. I’ve been waiting for you to catch up.” 

It was a still night, but Bucky heard nothing around him. Not the scritch of the crickets, the wind rustling through the trees, the soft hoots of the owl. There was nothing except him, the moon, and Clint. 

“I didn't know." 

Clint laid back on the rock and stretched out his long muscular body. “Come lay with me,” he said. “Let’s soak in the moon.” He pulled at Bucky until Bucky lay with his head pillowed on Clint’s chest. He didn’t speak, but when Bucky rested his head down against Clint’s chest he heard a deep, pleased grumble, and underneath is the slow, steady beat of the alpha’s heart. 

Goosebumps prickled on Bucky’s skin, and he shivered. He hadn’t expected to fall in love. 

“Are you cold, omega?” Clint said. He seemed old then, wisened, and larger than life. Bucky felt scared like he was falling, like Clint was the only thing between him and the abyss. “I’ll do my best to keep you safe.” 

“I feel like I’m losing control, like I’m losing everything.” 

Clint cupped Bucky’s cheek with one hand. “It’s only the fear before jumping into a cool lake. Once you have let go of your fears, you will feel it too.” 

“What?” 

“Peace. Quiet and peace.” 

Bucky pushed himself off the ground and draped himself over Clint’s warm body. Clint ran long strokes up and down Bucky’s back, fingertips light. Bucky felt a longing deep in his belly, more elemental than want or lust. Like the draw of two sides of a magnet. 

“I want to be with you,” Bucky said. The wetness between his legs felt cool as the night breeze hit it, soothing his feverish skin. “Clint, I’m ready.” 

Clint smiled at the sky and gently pulled Bucky on top of him. They traded kisses for a while until Clint reached down and ran a finger around Bucky’s puckered whole. 

Clint pulled one of Bucky’s knees up and reached behind him to trace a gentle finger around Bucky’s hole. The first breach stole Bucky’s breath. He’d had sex before, but this moment felt special, maybe even sacred if he’d let himself open to that. 

Clint kissed the surprise off his face, slowly fingering him open. It didn’t take long, given that Bucky was heated up and wanting. Once Clint fit four fingers in, he slid out and placed his hands on Bucky’s hips. 

“Go ahead,” Clint said. “Take what you want.” 

It was all too much: the moonlight covering their bodies, Clint’s touch almost hot enough to burn, his own heavy floral scent tinged with sugar. It was too much. Bucky bit back a sob at the sensations overwhelming his body. 

“You can do it,” Clint whispered. “I’m right here.” 

With shaking hands, Bucky grabbed a hold of Clint’s dick, went onto his knees, and slowly eased it into his body. Despite the prep, it was still a stretch, and Bucky hissed. Clint grabbed his hips. 

“Take your time, sweetheart.” 

Bucky didn’t want to take his time. Not now that he could feel the beginning of the fullness, the pressure and heat burning him inside out. 

“I love you,” he said. “Fuck. I love you.” 

Clint traced a thumb under Bucky’s left eye, careful, careful. “You’re wonderful.” 

“Yeah?” 

Bucky shuddered, and his body slowly relaxed. He eased himself onto Clint’s cock, feeling full beyond belief. The moonlight made him want a slow, languorous fuck, looking into one another’s eyes. But he had waited all day for Clint’s knot and didn’t want to wait anymore. 

Despite the coolness of the air, Bucky felt sweat bead up on his forehead, gathered in his hair. Clint looked up at him with awe written on his features, lips parted, eyes wide. The alpha reached down and traced a finger at the joining, feeling Bucky’s body slide up and down. 

With his other hand, Clint squeezed Bucky’s cock, a wet heat that Bucky fucked into as he rose and fell on Clint’s dick. His legs burned from the frenzied pace and the pain from the skin on his knees was a counterpoint to his pleasure. 

Bucky came with a shocked cry; his voice carried up to the moon as on offering. Trying to catch his breath, he faltered in his movements. Clint’s knot swollen, pressing against his rim. Bucky moved his hips in sloppy grinding movements until Clint thrust up hard and howled. 

They fell into a heap, and Bucky rested his sweaty face on Clint’s shoulder. They’d have to jump into the lake to clean off and then do it all over again, but for now, they rested. 

\----

*Seven days later*

“I never want to have sex again,” Clint groaned. “I’m going to be a eunuch. Just cut my balls off.” 

“Hey,” Bucky said, more on principle than actual disagreement. The den reeked of sex, and every part of Bucky was sticky. Had he rolled around in Clint’s come? 

“Did we go swimming in come?” Clint said. “I need to go to one of the Tower’s decontamination units. Just ugh. Why did we not do this at the apartment where there are washing machines?” 

Bucky made a muffled noise in agreement, but he had nothing to add. They were unspeakably gross. 

“We could go swimming?” 

Clint grumbled and threw his arm over his eyes. What a crybaby. 

“That lake is probably filled with come by now, too. We’re going to have little tadpoles with our genetic coding visiting the Tower and asking for archery lessons.” 

“Ew.” Bucky threw a dirty shirt on Clint just to get him to shut up. “You’re the alpha, you’re supposed to take care of all this.” 

Clint didn’t even move the shirt off himself. “Nope. I’m dating a non-traditional omega just so I wouldn’t have to--” 

Bucky rolled over onto Clint to wrestle him into being quiet. Their sticky bodies rubbed together unpleasantly. 

“Stop being a baby. You just got a week of unlimited sex. Now, let’s go clean off in the lake, and when we get home, I will feed you pizza and coffee to thank you for your noble effort.” 

Clint opened one eye. “With extra pepperoni?” 

Bucky patted his scruffy face. “As long as you don’t eat it in bed.” 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw, you know I had to end it on a gross/funny moment with these two. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has come on this journey with me. I don't know how feels snuck into this goofy story, but they did, and I appreciate y'all joining me on this ride.


End file.
